Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · IA NONMETROPOLITAN AREA · October 2026
Every advertised-pay, job-posting and industry figure in this briefing comes from WageScape's own database of active job postings. The sources below back the external facts cited in the written analysis.
Sources cited in this report
Key Indicators
Iowa shed 9,500 jobs (-0.6%) over twelve months, ranking 46th nationally
Common Sense Institute — Iowa sector employment analysis, June 2026
Iowa labor force participation at 67.0%, 3rd-highest among states
Bureau of Labor Statistics — State labor force participation comparison, July-August 2026
This Month's Takeaways
45-54 age group saw largest labor-force decline, attributed to retirement
Iowa Workforce Development — Labor force demographic breakdown, August 2026
$2.1 billion UI trust balance funds lowest possible 2027 employer tax rate
Iowa Workforce Development — Unemployment insurance trust fund report
Local Economic Conditions
Iowa unemployment held at 3.2% for fourth consecutive month through August 2026
Bureau of Labor Statistics / Iowa Workforce Development — State unemployment rate release, August 2026
Looking Ahead
Iowa WARN notices down 58% in affected workers vs 2025
LayoffData / WARN Act Filings — Statewide WARN notice tracking, 2026 year-to-date
How the numbers are calculated
- Advertised pay is the median of the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro. It is not survey or payroll data.
- Percent changes compare the latest six full months with the six months before that, for the same metro and sector.
- Sectors group postings by the employer's industry (NAICS) classification into ten sectors. Where a metro has too few postings in a sector, the state figure is used instead.
- Role pay trends use the same comparison windows. "Stable" means a change of less than 3%; "moderate" 3–10%; "significant" more than 10%.
Official data for comparison