Unfilled jobs the biggest problem looming for Iowa economy

MASON CITY — The US economic outlook for this year is generally positive, but as national financial journalist Jordan Goodman notes, one key problem affects not only Iowa, but the rest of the country as well. 

“The biggest problem is not unemployment, it’s unfilled jobs, and I think that’s going to grow in 2020 as more and more baby boomers keep retiring. We currently have over seven million unfilled jobs that could go up to 10 million as more and more baby boomers keep retiring, and the younger people either are not equipped or not willing to do the jobs that baby boomers willing to do,” he says.   

Now that the “Phase One” agreement between the US and China has been approved, there is optimism in the ag sector, but Goodman cautions against too much celebration just yet.  “Well certainly having more demand from China will be good and that’ll help wheat, corn, pork, beef, all kinds of things, but that’s still too much supply out there. I don’t see prices moving up in any dramatic way, in fact I think they’ll probably stay where they are or go down a little bit, you’ll just have more demand from China, but we have the supply. I do not see a big spike in commodity prices at all.”

You can hear more about the economic forecast for 2020 on the “Iowa Business Report”, which airs Sunday mornings at 7:06 AM on AM-1300 KGLO.