Latest Iowa Job Count Falls Short as Bush Takes Credit for Iowa Economy
Iowa Policy Project
Even With September Increase, Iowa Job Performance Disappoints
MOUNT VERNON, Iowa
(Oct. 21, 2004) – An increase in the number of nonfarm jobs in
September is encouraging, but the economic recovery in Iowa continues
to be weak, analysts said today.
Iowa’s
nonfarm payrolls expanded by 1,300 jobs in September 2004, according to
data released Thursday by Iowa Workforce Development. Government,
construction, and financial sectors each gained 400 jobs.
However,
the unemployment rate increased to its highest level for the year at
4.7 percent. The last time the unemployment rate was higher was July
1992, when it reached 4.8 percent.
“We
always concentrate on job growth,” said David Osterberg, executive
director of the Iowa Policy Project. “That is why we are still
concerned that Iowa has not fully recovered from the 2001 recession.
Iowa has 22,200 fewer jobs than when the recession began in March 2001.”
The
economic recovery continues to disappoint in Iowa. Based on Bush
Administration projections, 41,500 new jobs were supposed to have been
created in Iowa since July 2003, when the federal “Jobs and Growth” tax
cuts were to start having an impact. During that period, however, Iowa
has gained only 16,700 jobs.
“Job
growth has fallen short on all measures,” said Peter Fisher, research
director of the Iowa Policy Project. “Job quality has suffered as well.
The new jobs generally pay less and offer fewer benefits compared to
the jobs lost. Nationally, about 14% of all new jobs have been temp
agency jobs.”
Deepening
the job deficit is the fact that the number of people needing jobs has
increased. Four years of college graduates have entered the workforce
since Iowa began shedding jobs.
Since
the recession ended in November 2001, during what is supposed to be a
period of economic recovery, Iowa has continued to lose jobs. Usually
during a “recovery” jobs are created, not lost. For example, this many
months after the end of the 1990 recession, Iowa had gained 62,300 jobs.
Jobs in
Iowa’s manufacturing and trade/transportation sectors have been
especially hard hit. About 25,500 manufacturing jobs and 12,500
trade/transportation jobs have been lost since the beginning of the
last recession (March 2001). Job gains have primarily been in financial
activities (+10,100) and education/health services (+9,400).
Recent
job figures as well as census projections suggest that temporary agency
jobs are among the fastest growing occupations in the nation. For
full-time workers who have lost a job, however, temp agency positions
do not provide the same stable employment and benefits.
Key numbers following Thursday’s release from the state:
*The
unemployment rate increased from 4.5 percent in August to 4.7 percent
in September, the highest it has been since July 2003. In March 2001,
at the start of the recession, it was 3.1 percent.
*The
total number of unemployed Iowans increased by 2,100, from 74,300 to
76,400. The labor force – people working or looking for work –
decreased over the month from 1,632,600 to 1,630,000.
*Nonfarm,
payroll employment rose from an August figure of 1,450,700 to
1,452,000, an increase of 1,300 jobs. Government, construction, and
financial sectors each gained 400 jobs.
*The
nonfarm employment number is up 11,200 from September 2003, but is
22,200 below the level of March 2001, at the start of the last
recession. It is 200 behind the level in November 2001, when the
recession officially ended.
*From
July 2003 to September 2004, 41,500 jobs were supposed to have been
created in Iowa thanks to the federal “Jobs & Growth” tax cut; that
promise has fallen 24,800 jobs short in Iowa.
More information about Iowa employment trends is available at the Iowa Policy Project website, www.iowapolicyproject.org. The Iowa Policy Project is a non-partisan, non-profit research organization headquartered in Mount Vernon.
Bush Takes Credit for Iowa Economy as Unemployment Rises
Kerry/Edwards Campaign
Unemployment Up for Third Month in a Row Under Bush’s Failed Policies
DES MOINES, IA – The State of
Iowa, Thursday, reported an increase in unemployment for the third
month running, one day after George Bush took credit for “improving”
the Iowa economy. Bush told an audience in Mason City on Wednesday that
the economy is “moving forward.”
“I don't know how you can say the Iowa economy is moving forward when,
for the last three months, the jobs picture in Iowa has been moving
backwards,” said Senator Tom Harkin.
According to official figures, total employment went down by 4,700 jobs
from August to September. The number of unemployed Iowans in
September was 76,400 – the highest reported level all year.
“It's more proof that George Bush can't solve our problems since he
refuses to recognize them,” Harkin said. “George Bush's wrong choices
have harmed Iowa's working families and continue to throw more and more
of them into the ranks of the unemployed.”
Under George Bush, America has lost 1.6 million private-sector jobs for
the first time in 70 years. The typical family has seen its income fall
by more than $1,500. Real business investment and exports are both down
under George Bush. And all George Bush has had to offer are excuses and
bad plans that put job creation and the middle class last while
favoring special interests.
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