Statewide Iowa (RI) — Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says exports from Iowa manufacturing plants in the first 10 months of 2025 were over a billion dollars under the same period in 2024 for a drop of nearly 8.5 percent.
Goss surveys manufacturers in Iowa and eight other states monthly and while there’s been economic growth in the nation’s midsection, Goss says the labor market is not good.
Goss says 25 years ago manufacturing accounted for nearly 14.5 percent of the economic output from Iowa and eight neighboring states. It’s now close to 10 percent.
Goss says inflation is getting tamer, but tariffs are creating more uncertainty in the manufacturing sector.
Manufacturing supply managers in Iowa and eight surrounding states expect tariffs to stabilize over the next six months, however, and their economic outlook is at its highest level since Trump took office.
Goss calculates a Business Conditions Index for each state in the survey. Iowa’s index increased from December to January and Iowa exports last month were slightly better than in the region’s, but Iowa’s manufacturing economy is not in a growth pattern, according to Goss.
KIWA Staff Photo
