About seven in 10 Iowans are currently engaged in some type of full- or part-time work.
Staff in the Iowa Legislative Services Agency reviewed a variety of federal and state reports to get at the “labor force participation rate.” Since the 2008 recession, there’s been a nearly four percent drop off in number of workers in the labor force nationally. The drop off in Iowa has been less than three percent since the recession.
The latest data indicates nearly 70 percent of Iowans over the age of 16 who are not in the military or in prison are working or trying to find a job. The report shows about 21,000 workers have entered the Iowa labor force in the past eight years, but that did not “keep pace” with the state’s population increase that was nearly six times higher.