Our unemployment rate is low, and yet fewer Iowans are working today than when Governor Reynolds took office. We also have more job openings than people without jobs.

We have a workforce crisis. That is the case across much of the country, but it impacts Iowa particularly hard because of our ageing population, as well as the number of people, mostly women, who have – at least temporarily – dropped out of the workforce because of childcare-related issues.

The workforce crisis impacts virtually every industry, including healthcare, education and the service industries. It hurts our kids’ education because fewer full-time and substitute teachers mean larger class sizes and daily uncertainty, especially when it comes to the virulence of the Omicron variant. Young, talented people are leaving the state, in no small part in response to laws the Republican trifecta has either enacted or threatened to enact, targeting LGBTQ and transgender youth, reproductive healthcare and the constitutional right to abortion, the failure to keep our water clean and underfunding of education. We need more than a band-aid – our workforce issues need major surgery. If not, the brain drain and youth flight will continue unabated.

 

• Raise the minimum wage; $15 per hour should be the floor (it currently sits at
  $7.25, among the lowest in the nation).

 

• Restore Chapter 20 collective bargaining rights and ditch right-to-work.

 

• Subsidize wages for childcare providers so they can earn a decent living and
  parents can return to the work force (solving the childcare crisis is complex
  – some helpful actions are being taken at the state level; much remains to
  be done).

 

• Approach the pandemic with a practical, science- and public health-based
  approach – the better it is under control, the better our economy will be.

 

• Fully fund our public schools, as excellence in public education draws young families here and keeps them here.

 

• Consider carrot, rather than stick approaches – having Iowa Workforce Development navigators can be helpful; however, the governor also announced plans to cut unemployment benefits and make it more difficult to get benefits just when people most need the support.

 

• Be a welcoming state that does not discriminate. That includes supporting women’s reproductive rights, caring for the environment (clean water is high on the list) and supporting policies that allow communities to thrive.