Iowa Workforce Development released positive employment data for September. With 66,100 unemployed workers, Iowa's unemployment rate was 3.9%. The data shows 4,100 more jobs were added with the state's labor force boosted to 1,673,500 jobs. Most of the gains were in government jobs with 1,500. Manufacturing lost 600 jobs.
The loss of manufacturing jobs is simply the result of technology gains and is a world-wide problem. In other words, outsoucing wasn't the cause of the job destruction in manufacturing.
Scott Ingstad, CEO of First National Bank of Muscatine, commented that the loss of manufacturing jobs is a sore point since the United States is making less and less "real" goods at home. A recent email from Ken Norman showed that 90% of a Toyota was assembled in the United States whereas, 65% of a Ford was made in the USA. Surely, the loss of blue-collar jobs hurt those in those industries, but the gains from trade outweigh the losses on a macroeconomic level.
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