Cedar Rapids profiled in Chicago Fed report

Cedar Rapids was listed as one of 10 Midwestern cities that experienced significant manufacturing job loss in recent decades, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago report.

Other cities in the report include Aurora and Joliet in Illinois, Fort Wayne and Gary in Indiana, Waterloo, Iowa, Grand Rapids and Pontiac in Michigan, and Green Bay and Racine in Wisconsin.

'We did this to help the residents of these Midwestern cities better understand the approaches that contributed to their rebound,” said Susan Longworth, a member of the Bank's division of Community Development and Policy Studies and editor of a book, Industrial Cities Initiative, that contains the profiles. 'These profiles can also serve as a springboard for discussion by community leaders in other cities to help them understand what approaches are working in other places confronted with similar circumstances.”

After looking at the cities' conditions, trends and experiences, the report concluded that efforts to improve their economic and social well-being are shaped by:

'Macroeconomic forces: Regardless of their size or location, these cities are impacted by globalization, immigration, education and training needs, demographic trends including an aging population, and the benefits and burdens of wealth, wages, and poverty.

'State and national policies: State and national policies pit one city against another in a zero-sum competition for job- and wealth-generated firms, say economic development leaders.

'The dynamic relationship of the city and the region in which it is located: Regional strengths and weaknesses to a large extent determine the fate of the respective cities.

Cedar Rapids' profile found that the share of the city's workforce employed in manufacturing has decreased from 35 percent in 1970 to 17 percent in 2010.

But during this time period the city has as a whole has become more educated, with the percentage of people with some college training or a college degree increasing from 27 percent in 1970 to 63 percent in 2010. It also has a diverse group of employers, including food processing, sales, transportation and technology.

'Just as all of these cities have lost manufacturing jobs to a greater or lesser degree, all are working – to a greater or lesser degree of success – to offer a higher quality of life to their residents, and communities that are more resilient to social and economic changes,” the report said.

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