A state lawmaker says the future looks good for job creation in Iowa. Iowa’s economy has been growing at a faster rate than any other state in the nation, according to a report last week from top state officials. State Representative Clarence Hoffman of Charter Oak says it’s the result of a lot of hard work. Hoffman says when he became chairman of the state’s Economic Growth committee 3 years ago, Iowa was dead last and “the worst place in which to do business, also last in venture capital.” Hoffman says when he became chair he did a study and analysis of how Iowa was doing, looking at it the way you’d do to a business. He says “The governor of course asked that we do the Iowa Values legislation and I was appointed chair of that.” “As a result of the work that we have done,” Hoffman says, “we have gone from dead last to first place in growth in the nation, and this is only the beginning of the results of that project.” He says the state used to rank low in wages compared with other states, with average pay in the state at 28-thousand, 500-dollars. Jobs created by the Iowa Values legislation pay 38-thousand, he claims, and says that’s translated into wage increases. “We also did some legislation related to venture capital,” he says, asserting that those changes helped raise over 100-million dollars in venture capital, another stimulus for growth. Hoffman says he’s not taking credit for the state’s economic rebirth, but says his working group helped set the state on the right path.After they put together the goals, he says they worked together to pass legislation that changed the business climate in Iowa and create incentives. “The programs are working and the results are becoming obvious.”
