Rise in local job openings

Some Corridor job boards showed an uptick in opportunities this week, raising hopes that it could be an early sign of a turnaround in the local job market.

Kirkwood Community College's Career Services office said job postings on its Web site more than doubled in the past week, from 81 to 165.

The openings included positions for information technology technicians, occupational therapy assistance, firefighters, broadcast engineers and leasing agents.

Danielle Ebaugh, director of career services at Kirkwood, attempted to verify whether the increase was a broader trend by contacting Iowa City Area Development and Priority One. She said those groups also noted a healthy increase in opportunities posted through their organizations.

“It looks not only like people are hiring, but more people are hiring,” Ebaugh said.

Job postings on CorridorCareers.com have seen a slight increase in the second half of the month, according to product manager Sarah Gorsh of Gazette Communications, which operates the job site in cooperation the economic development agencies.

“We are up around 300 or more postings at a time on CorridorCareers.com,” Gorsh said, adding that sales activity also has picked up.

Non-farm employment in the Cedar Rapids metropolitan statistical area in December was down 1,400 from one year ago, to 138,000. In the Iowa City MSA, total employment is up 600 within the past year.

The Cedar Rapids metro unemployment rate stood at 6.5 percent in December, while the Iowa City MSA rate stood at 4.5 percent.