Statewide Iowa — (RI) — Business leaders across the state are forecasting a solid start to the New Year for Iowa’s economy.
Mike Ralston, president of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, says the latest survey of the group’s past and current board members finds almost all of them plan to invest in equipment or facility expansions during the first quarter of 2019.
Nearly three-quarters of the business leaders surveyed say they expect increased sales during the year and almost all of them plan to make capital expenditures. According to Ralston, the state’s shortage of skilled workers tops their list of concerns, as it has for many years. But a new worry has emerged recently.
More than half of those surveyed anticipate hiring more workers in early 2019. The Iowa ABI was founded in 1903 and has 15-hundred members.
