(Radio Iowa) - State officials say the latest report shows the closure of Tyson's pork processing plant in Perry has had little effect on the state's overall unemployment rate.
Iowa's unemployment rate was two-point-eight percent in July -- unchanged for the fourth consecutive month. Jesse Doughetry, a spokesman for Iowa Workforce Development, says less than half of the nearly 14-hundred workers who lost their jobs when the Tyson plant closed in June applied for jobless benefits in July. About 200 workers in Perry took jobs in Tyson facilities elsewhere.
Tyson cited financial struggles within the pork industry as the main reason for closing its plant in Perry, which was the community's largest employer. About half the employees lived in Perry and Dougherty says that's perhaps another factor in the lower than expected number of unemployment claims as those who commuted to and from Perry may have found jobs closer to home.