Once again our friends at the Iowa Policy Project have released their annual report on working families in Iowa. This is one of their chief research projects every year. While we hear folks like Governor Branstad extol the economy under his watch, the Iowa Policy Project dig under the BS and ferret out the truth. The truth they find is usually in contrast to the rosy picture that the politicians paint. If you plan on talking to your legislator this year, I strongly recommend reading and digesting the report put out by IPP. Remember that facts are stubborn things and in order to find solutions we must understand the problem.

Here is an excerpt from the email from Mike Owen concerning the release of the report:

“FRIENDS:

It’s that time of year again! Labor Day weekend, and you know what that means: attention to the real issues that face Iowa’s working families. And you have plenty of information to discuss over brats and burgers this weekend with The State of Working Iowa 2013, the latest edition in our signature series from the Iowa Policy Project.

IPP Senior Research Consultant Colin Gordon once again has put together a strong package of information — data about jobs and wage trends in our state and the nation, framed by sensible messages about the consequences for Iowans.

You can find the report in two places: a print version of the report (18-page PDF file) and our news release at our website, www.iowapolicyproject.org, as usual, and also an interactive version of the report our special State of Working Iowa website — www.stateofworkingiowa.org. At the State of Working Iowa website, you’ll also be able to click on interactive versions of many of the graphics in the report, permitting you to sort data yourself as you like.”

From Colin Gordon’s summary:
Among Gordon’s key findings:

• Almost seven years since the onset of the Great Recession in December 2007, the national economy is far short of pre-recession job levels. For Iowa, the picture is a little better, with the state finally reaching the pre-recession level in June.

• When accounting for population growth, Iowa remains about 52,000 behind the pre-recession mark and at its recent pace could clear the jobs deficit two years from now.

• Long-term unemployment has been stubborn — 33.5 percent in 2010 (over a third of Iowa’s unemployed were jobless for more than six months). That figure had fallen only slightly, to 27.5 percent, by the end of 2012.

• Recovery has eased some of the steep job losses from recession in Iowa, but Iowa still shows a net decline in two traditionally high-quality job sectors, construction and manufacturing.

• Wages not only have stagnated while workers have become more productive.

• The education premium — a return on the investment of higher education — has been uneven and uncertain. While a smaller share of the Iowa labor force would be deemed “low-wage” workers than 30 years earlier, a larger share has at least some college education yet falls within that “low-wage” category.

“In the nation and in Iowa, we see a long trend toward lower-wage service employment,” Gordon said. “Sustained losses in key middle-income sectors — such as manufacturing and public service — have not been accompanied by real opportunities elsewhere in the economy.”

Reading IPP is very basic to being an informed citizen in Iowa. They send out email updates usually around once a month. The subject are always timely, thoroughly researched and pull no punches. You can get on their email list by doing this:

Want email updates from the Iowa Policy Project?

Send an email to: ipp (at) Lcom.net. Put “sign up” as your subject and include your name, organization and any other information you would like us to know. We will send you emails once or twice a month, or as needed to announce the release of a new report.