Iowa Workforce Development Communications
For Immediate Release
Date: March 7, 2025
Contact: Jesse Dougherty
Telephone: 515-725-5487
Email: communications@iwd.iowa.gov
IWD Reemployment Program Receives National Award for Second Time in Three Years
“2024 Full Employment Award” Honors Success at Helping Iowans Find New Work
DES MOINES, IOWA – The American Institute for Full Employment (AIFE) has named Iowa Workforce Development as the recipient of its 2024 Full Employment Award. The national award is given each year to one or more states or individuals demonstrating a commitment to excellence in helping job seekers become reemployed. Iowa previously won the award in 2022.
In issuing the award, AIFE noted that the United States as a whole has experienced labor shortages and low workforce participation rates over the past three years, as well as rising durations of unemployment claims. Yet, in Iowa, the average length of an unemployment claim has dropped four weeks (from 13.0 weeks to 9.0 weeks) since January 2022, when the state instituted its Reemployment Case Management (RCM) program.
“Iowa’s innovation represents a significant breakthrough that’s helping unemployed Iowans get back on their feet faster,” AIFE President John Courtney said in a news release announcing the award. “It also gives a preview of the nationwide benefits that will be reaped when Congress continues its intended expansion of … support for laid-off workers.”
Iowa’s RCM program provides one-on-one assistance for jobless Iowans beginning with the first week of their unemployment claims. RCM career planners conduct regular meetings with unemployment claimants (both virtually and in-person) to provide individualized job search assistance and connections to any needed resources. IWD estimates that the program has saved Iowa’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund more than $350 million during its first three years by putting claimants back to work more quickly and thereby shortening their unemployment claims.
AIFE’s news release notes that Iowa’s average claim duration at the end of 2024 was the third lowest in the nation. Iowa also ranked tenth in terms of the lowest percentage of people who exhausted their unemployment claims before finding work.
Beth Townsend, Executive Director of Iowa Workforce Development, thanked AIFE for the continuing recognition of Iowa’s accomplishments.
“We appreciate this award from AIFE and the recognition of the hard work our team members have undertaken to look for every possible way to make the program work even better,” Townsend said. “Iowa’s future depends on making sure our employers have a sufficient workforce and that Iowans looking for a job can find one as quickly as possible.”
In addition to the award recognition, last year IWD Executive Director Townsend testified before Congress on Iowa’s successful approach with the RCM program.
The American Institute for Full Employment is a nonprofit consulting and research group, founded in 1994 to promote best practices in solving unemployment in America. The Institute’s team consists of former state agency executives. Its team has designed best practices in workforce, unemployment, and welfare programs for decades, working on policy design and implementation in more than 25 states.
For more about Iowa’s award and prior year award recipients, visit the AIFE website.
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