Agri News, MN
01-16-07
Business news and notes
Three Iowa cities see continued economic growth
DES MOINES -- Three Iowa cities have seen rapid job growth since 2000 while
two others continue to struggle to recover from recession, according to state job
statistics.
Dubuque, Des Moines and Davenport led the state in the percentage of new job
growth since 2003 with Dubuque leading the pack. Iowa City added the most
jobs since 2000 with 8,200, a 10.4 percent increase.
Meanwhile, Cedar Rapids and Sioux City have struggled to rebound from the
2000 recession that hammered those cities' telecommunications industries. The
cities each posted about a 1 percent increase in three years, but are still below
employment levels of six years ago.
Urban areas fared better than rural towns. Cities gained 34,160 jobs in the past
six years, while the state overall added 26,900, indicating that rural areas lost
7,260 jobs between 2000 and 2006.
"The state of Iowa isn't recovering as rapidly as the rest of the nation," said
David Swenson, an economic scientist at Iowa State University.