For the first time in a year, Iowa’s economy is seeing gradual improvement in the latest survey of purchasing managers and business leaders. Creighton University economist Dr. Ernie Goss says it’s the first sizeable upturn for Iowa’s economic picture since August of 2000.Dr. Goss says part of the uptick Iowa enjoyed on the latest of the university’s monthly surveys may be due to action by the panel in Washington that’s headed by Alan Greenspan.The Federal Reserve Board last month cut interest rates — for the seventh time this year — in an effort to re-ignite the economy. Goss says those cuts are finally having a “glimmer” of an impact.He predicts Iowa’s unemployment rate will rise another two-tenths of a percent over the next several months, but also believes the job market will bounce back by the end of 2001 or early in 2002.
