Job numbers portend select areas of growth

By Quad-City Times

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Students considering career objectives would do well to chart Iowa's new job figures. So would legislators, county supervisors, municipal aldermen and a governor.

The job figures released recently detect a glimmer of growth: 13,200 more jobs than at this time last year, according to surveys and estimates from Iowa Workforce Development, the state's employment division. This approximation remains far off the astronomical goal

Gov. Terry Branstad set during his campaign: 200,000 new jobs, or 50,000 in each year of his four-year term.

But the figures show measurable growth in construction, manufacturing, hospitality, education and health services jobs.

They show no growth in financial and information services, as well as government - all traditional job growth areas in Iowa.

The new figures suggest career opportunities in engineering, design, health sciences and the other leading growth categories.

Financial and information services jobs may rebound with the economy.

Government must not.

Government employment at all levels must reflect the state's limited tax resources. Incremental changes in the residential rollback makes more assessed value available for local government to tax.

The Iowa Department of Revenue this month determined that 50.75 percent of residential assessed value is subject to property tax. Last year, the revenue department ordered residential property tax on 48.53 percent of assessed value.

That change allows local governments an automatic tax increase if rates stay unchanged. Next tax year, steady rates won't mean a tax freeze. They will mean a tax increase for homeowners.

That's why status quo won't work for local governments. They must experience what most taxpayers are experiencing: Doing more with less.

The new job figures offer a snapshot of what has happened over the past year. But these figures become more valuable when used to plan for the future.