Statewide Iowa — The Iowa Business Council’s third-quarter Economic Outlook Survey shows a continued positive outlook among its business members for the next six months.
IBC executive director, Joe Murphy, says while it is the fifth straight positive survey, a couple of issues continue to persist.
The labor shortage is directly linked to the supply chain problem.
Sales expectations fell just slightly as did the employment index. The survey found 55 percent of businesses expect their workforce to grow, and 40 percent do not anticipate any change in employment. One hundred percent of the businesses in the survey say hiring is somewhat difficult to very difficult.
The third-quarter survey’s overall economic outlook index is nearly 66 with 50 or above being positive.
Murphy says Iowa needs to continue working on solutions to the problems or face the possibility of businesses looking to other states.
The Iowa Business Council is made up of of 22 chief executives from Iowa’s largest organizations. The IBC says one in six jobs in Iowa are tied to an Iowa Business Council company.
