(Des Moines)– The Iowa Business Council’s third-quarter Economic Outlook Survey shows a continued positive outlook among its business members for the next six months.
I-B-C executive director Joe Murphy says while it is the fifth straight positive survey, businesses are still facing extreme pressures from a workforce shortage perspective, and increasing bottlenecks in the supply chain for Iowa companies. Murphy says there aren’t enough truck drivers to move the supplies or enough people out on the west coast in the Port of Los Angeles to offload cargo containers.
The survey found 55 percent of businesses expect their workforce to grow, and 40 percent do not anticipate any change in employment. One-hundred percent say hiring is somewhat difficult to very difficult.
The third-quarter survey’s overall economic outlook index is nearly 66 — with 50 or above being positive.
