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Few things are more important for the quality of life in North Iowa than progressive economic development. For the third time in six years, North Iowa’s key economic development stakeholders have come together to conduct an important study – a regional Laborshed Analysis.  The six North Iowa economic development groups that comprise the North Central Iowa Alliance worked with North Iowa Area Community College and Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) to complete the study and are now pleased to share the results with North Iowa.

“The significance of this study is found in both the content derived from the analyses and the ability of the North Central Iowa Alliance partners to work together on a regional basis to advance our prospects for a better quality of life,” Karen Mitchell, North Central Iowa Alliance Chairperson stated. 

Iowa’s Laborshed studies provide the North Central Iowa region and communities within the region the ability to document and illustrate the characteristics of their labor force.

Information found in the Laborshed report consists of commuting patterns, current and desired wages/salaries, available labor, workforce skills and employment numbers/percentages by industry in the Laborshed area.

As part of the full-fledged regional report, there are also 8 individual community reports for Charles City, Forest City, Garner, Hampton, Lake Mills, Mason City/Clear Lake, Northwood, and Osage.  These communities will be able to use their local reports as well as the North Iowa regional report information.

The new Laborshed study shows that 77.6 percent of people in the region are employed, 11.2 percent are unemployed, 5.8 percent are homemakers, and 5.4 percent under the age of sixty-five are retired.  Of the homemakers, 42.3 percent are willing to re-enter the workforce.  Of the retirees, 15.7 percent are willing to re-enter the workforce.

Laborshed results also show that 24.2 percent of individuals in the region would be interested in operating their own business, and 62.4 percent of people in the area have some education/training beyond high school.

The industry composition of North Central Iowa, according to the Laborshed, is 19.8 percent manufacturing, 19.5 percent health care and social services, 12.4 percent education, and 11.8 percent wholesale and retail.

“By performing Laborshed studies through a regional effort, communities are able to share in the expense associated with the studies (economy of scale).  The North Central Iowa Regional Study is comprised of over 2,500 surveys which gives the region a wealth of information when it comes to identifying the strengths of the labor force,” Paula Nissen, IWD project manager, said.

The North Central Iowa Laborshed is a result of the cooperative effort between the economic development groups of the North Central Iowa Alliance which include, the Charles City Area Development Corporation, North Iowa Corridor EDC, Hancock County Development, Franklin County Development Association, Mitchell County Economic Development Corporation, and Winn-Worth BETCO. North Iowa Area Community College served as project partner and coordinator.

“As a result of the updated laborshed study, the North Iowa region continues to possess an excellent economic development tool to use for the betterment of our existing industry base as well as to help us recruit the appropriate types of businesses to North Iowa,” Terry Schumaker, NIACC and IWD economic development director, said.  “The collaborative effort of the economic development groups of North Iowa both financially and time-wise was the key component in making these studies a reality.  NIACC was pleased to have the opportunity to coordinate the overall effort.”

The Laborshed study for North Central Iowa was sponsored in partnership with Alliant Energy, Black Hills Energy, North Central Iowa Alliance, Iowa Workforce Development, NIACC, and Prairie Energy Cooperative on behalf of the cities of Britt and Garner.

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