Working Blues: Labor Day in Iowa, 2004
Iowa Policy Project
Distressing Pattern in Iowa Jobs Picture
MOUNT
VERNON, Iowa – On the weekend of Labor Day 2004, Iowans are still
waiting for a recovery from the 2001 recession, with jobs and wages on
the decline after the late 1990's boom.
A new
report for the Iowa Policy Project examines changes in employment by
industry, showing double-digit percentage growth in the late 1990's in
financial activities, construction, transportation and utilities and
professional and business services.
“After
2000, growth in some of Iowa's leading sectors slowed considerably, and
some lost ground,” said Colin Gordon, a University of Iowa professor
who authored the report for the Iowa Policy Project. “And, as we might
expect, the dismal jobs picture has begun to affect wages – which
already were low in Iowa.”
The
Labor Day report offers an off-year update of the IPP's biennial “State
of Working Iowa” report, published in 2001 and 2003, and available on
the web at www.iowapolicyproject.org.
“If
Iowans are asking themselves whether they are better off now than they
were four years ago, the answer is pretty clear,” said David Osterberg,
executive director of the Iowa Policy Project. “They are not better
off.”
Key findings of Gordon's report:
—
Iowa lags behind most of its peers in nonfarm employment from 2000
through July 2004, with a 2.2 percent decline, from 1,478,400 to
1,446,200. Only Missouri, Indiana and Illinois among nine Midwestern
states had a worse showing.
—
Total nonfarm employment in Iowa rose 8.9 percent from almost 1.36
million in 1995 to almost 1.48 million in 2000, but fell back by 2.6
percent to about 1.44 million in 2003.
—
Despite strong growth in the 1990's across industry sectors, not a
single sector approached a pace to do as well from 2000-2003 as it did
from 1995-2000. Among those that grew since 2000, only one – education
and health services – approached half of its percentage growth in the
late '90s.
—
The 10 occupations losing the most jobs in Iowa from 2000 to 2003
boasted an average annual wage of $48,314. By contrast, the 10
occupations adding the most jobs paid an average annual wage of $26,587
a gap of almost $22,000.
—
Iowa's median wage (in 2003 dollars) went from $12.03 in 1979 to $10.99
in 1995, rising to $12.71 in 2000 and $13.01 in 2003.
“In the
last three years of the 1990's, Iowa's median wage grew by almost $1.25,
but in the three years afterward, it grew by only 30 cents,” Gordon
said.
“It's
also important to note that the wage comparisons only tell part of the
story,” Gordon said. “Low-wage occupations are less likely to offer
other forms of economic security, such as health insurance or
pensions. So, it's no surprise that Iowa's rate of uninsurance has
risen sharply – from 8.2 percent in 1999-2000 to 10.4 percent in
2002-03.”
The Iowa
Policy Project is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization
based in Mount Vernon. IPP reports are available to the public, free of
charge, on the web at www.iowapolicyproject.org.
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