Warren County’s Labor Pool to Reach 300,000?

On this final day of 2013, I focus on people and the recent relationships that people have had with their work.

Warren County has a competitive advantage in terms of the size of its laborforce pool and the skills of the people who comprise it.  While some companies might desire to locate in less densely populated, rural areas due to lower real estate and labor costs, the fact remains that the size of the workforce pools in these areas continues to shrink.  As the ‘Southern Gateway’ into the Des Moines Metropolitan region, and with a natural gravitational pull of people from southern Iowa, Warren County has the ability to attract workers from a large circumference around Warren County.

As a way to measure and assess the size and makeup of the area’s labor pool, the Warren County Economic Development Corporation has commissioned Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) to complete the annual 'Laborshed' survey for Warren County.  As reported in yesterday's Des Moines Business Record, IWD will first survey employers to find out the workforce concentration in various zip codes from where their workers reside.  Next, IWD will perform a random sample of people based on these concentrations utilizing a phone survey.

When the survey was completed in 2012, the following communities had these laborshed sizes:

·         Carlisle – 224,267 (58 times the community's population)

·         Indianola – 290,332 (20 times the community's population)

·         Norwalk – 277,333 (31 times the community's population)

Of these cities, Norwalk’s laborshed base consisted of 32 percent of individuals who were "very likely or somewhat likely to change or accept employment".  Neither Carlisle nor Indianola’s respective laborshed bases faced as much potential shift.  Carlisle’s laborshed base, however, experienced the highest level of "underemployed" individuals with 5.4 percent of those surveyed.  People within Carlisle’s laborshed base were also willing to travel 24 miles one way for the right employment opportunity.

Indianola had the highest average age of those surveyed (47 years of age) and also the highest level of education with 56 percent of those surveyed having some education beyond high school. 

The construction industry generally had the highest unemployment.  The manufacturing industry generally had the highest percentage of people willing to change employment.  ‘Professional services’ was the highest paying industry.

The potential workforce base for Warren County communities extends as far north as Ames, as far south as Missouri, as far east as Pella, and as far west as Adel/Winterset.  Of course, this is all based on the 2012 report, and it will be interesting to compare the changes in trends when the 2014 report is completed next spring.

Warren County Kindness

An often overlooked community quality is the “niceness” quotient.  Every community claims to be nice, but without any quantifiable figures or examples.

Well, on a cold winter’s night on Sunday, December 22, my wife and I and our three kids were returning from family Christmas celebrations in Eastern Iowa.  The time was late, the temperature ware around zero degrees, and the car was packed full presents, suitcases, and miscellaneous items.  We were also all exhausted and anxious to be home.  At least two of the kids were sleeping so we knew that our first order of business would be to unpack the kids from the van and nestle them comfortably them into their beds.

One problem remained.  While we were gone that weekend it had snowed about five or more inches.  Kelly and I anticipated that once we returned there would be no way to enter our driveway to our Indianola home.  The possibility was that we would need to park the van along the street and march through snow to enter the house - at least until we cleared the snow.  Our assumptions appeared to be true as we entered the community.  The winter storm had indeed made its way through Indianola that weekend!

When we approached our home, however, our sidewalks and driveway were clear of snow!  We had no problem driving our Kia Sedona into our garage.  We had no idea who had performed the act of kindness, but were very relieved that we did not need to spend the next 45 minutes clearing snow but could instead settle everyone down for the evening. 

Our family is still relatively new to Indianola.  Kelly and the kids only came this past July.  Yet on this night we all felt very blessed to call Warren County our home and to have such great neighbors in Indianola.

Warren County Kids Know Math

The punch-line in American politics is that “It’s all about the children”.  An easy case can be made, however, to support the veracity of that statement.  Kids represent our future civic leaders, business owners, and will fill vacant positions in our laborforce.  The kind of people that our kids become and what they know matters greatly.  Thus, addressing our children's economic and social needs, as well as aiding their educational success, matters at an early age as well.

A recent report by the group National Kids Count, and funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, entitled Iowa Kids Count 2012: Trends in the Well-Being of Iowa Children, provides data on 20 different indicators of child and family well-being at the United States, Iowa, substate and county level.  

Here are a few notable statistics about the education of Warren County kids:

·         Math proficiency among Warren County 8th grade students increased 10% between 2003 and 2012.  Eight graders also ranked 7^th overall for math proficiency among Iowa’s 99 counties.

·         Warren County's high school graduation rate is 96.4% (an increase of 8.8% from 2000).

·         Among the population of 3-4 year olds, 27% more kids attended preschool in 2012 compared to 2000.  The rate of change in the statewide population increased by 7.8%.

·         Warren County’s 4^th grade student population ranked 13^th in reading proficiency among Iowa’s 99 counties.

Further, a few notable figures about the economic conditions of Warren County kids and their families:

·         Warren County has the 3^rd lowest rate of child poverty among Iowa’s 99 counties (only Grundy and Dallas are lower).

·         Warren County is tied for 5^th lowest among Iowa’s 99 counties for filers of the Earned Income Tax Credit.

·         The percentage of individuals qualifying for assistance from the Family Investment Program declined by 26.1% between 2000 and 2012. 

·         The percentage of individuals receiving Food Assistance is the 2^nd lowest among Iowa’s 99 counties (Sioux County is the lowest).

·         The percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunches ranked 5^th lowest among Iowa’s 99 counties.

These findings suggest that Warren County kids live in households which are economically "better off" than many other Iowa counties.  Children are fortunate in that regard, although access to higher paying employers in the Des Moines Metro no doubt helps (an in-depth analysis on this topic is better suited for a future blog post).  Further, Warren County’s pre-schools are accepting an increasingly higher rate of suitably aged children, are helping kids read and perform math at a higher level than many other Iowa counties, and graduating students from high school at an increasingly higher rate as well.  

Mayor Bresnan's Tenure of Economic Accomplishments

Local politics is local politics.  The battles are often uncomfortable as they occur between friends, neighbors and relatives.  As economic developers, one of our biggest challenges is maintaining positive relationships with everyone in elected or non-elected office, and live to fight another day regardless of outcome.  Such is the life of the economic developer, but it pales in comparison to life in the fishbowl for an elected Mayor.

The Indianola Record-Herald provided a terrific summary this week of the last four years of Mayor Ken Bresnan’s tenure.  Noted were some of Indianola’s greatest economic development achievements, namely Theisen's, Vintage Hills, Mercy Urgent Care, second Mercy building, new Unity Point Clinic, a new dentist office, two savings and loans, a new auto parts store, Monterrey restaurant, and BlakeFieldhouse.  Also mentioned were the YMCA vote which passed by 77 percent subsequently completed with over 5,000 members, the Blank Performing Arts Center remodel, and the Kent Student Center.   The Mayor counted at least 124 new full-time and 182 part-time jobs from the noted projects, significant in a county which had no net private sector job growth between the years 2004 and 2010, according to Iowa Workforce Development.

Even with all that said, Mayor Bresnan is selling himself a bit short on local economic achievements.  HarvestInnovations has quadrupled the size of their employment base in Indianola since new ownership took over in 2009, opening a new distribution facility in the former Winfield Solutions building and expanding production.  Cemen Tech has positioned themselves as a contract manufacturer of choice of new product lines, including recent products for Vermeer and startup company Energy Independence Partners (EIP).  The latter involved a ribbon-cutting by Governor Terry Branstad, at which the Mayor presided.  The EIP wastewater product, WetWorks, started in Germany with a company called ItN Nanovation and involves the financing of Rusnano, who were welcomed to Indianola last year by Mayor Ken Bresnan. 

Mayor Bresnan saw the big picture about how Indianola fits regionally within Warren County and the Des Moines Metropolitan Region, and worked to position the community within the many alliances thereof.  Ken advocated for important infrastructure and transportation priorities – including with the IDOT and Iowa’s Congressional Delegation, which led to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars in new investment for projects such as Highway 65/69, Highway 92, trails, etc.  Mayor Bresnan also made the rejuvenation of Indianola's Square a priority, with many building owners receiving financial awards to improve their façade's through the City's downtown program, leaving the Square in a much better condition today than four years prior.

Looking back upon Mayor Bresnan’s tenure, I am grateful that Ken was someone I could also touch base with anytime I wanted a straight-forward opinion.  The Mayor would never hesitate to call me at my office at 7:00 AM knowing I was there, and invited me to have a cup of coffee at Uncommon Grounds, his favorite morning hang-out spot where he met people before driving to work for his “day job” with the Archdiocese of Des Moines.  The Mayor also not only supported and encouraged me, but also had a great appreciation for my staff, which was always nice for boosting morale. 

Mayors come and go and legacies are forgotten in time, but we should all be thankful for citizens who are willing to step forward and lead us to higher ground.  Indianola has reached higher ground over the last four years.

Loffredo Fresh Produce

The City of Norwalk has had the recent opportunity to consider the expansion of Loffredo Fresh Produce into Norwalk, Iowa.  The company is looking to build a $7 million fresh foods slicing facility in the community, which is expected to produce in excess of 165 new jobs. Loffredo Fresh Produce plans to retain the corporate administrative offices and distribution center in Des Moines, which is roughly four miles north of the planned project location.

The University of Northern Iowa completed a return on investment analysis for this project. As there is no other peer facility or competitor of this kind in Iowa, the data produced was limited.  The data which was offered, however, was extremely helpful for measuring project value.  The fact that this project type is an "Iowa first" further illustrates the value being brought to Warren County.

One of the findings is that in addition to the identified direct jobs created by Loffredo Fresh Produce, the project will conservatively generate another 40 new jobs created by existing local businesses.  The project will also generate another $5 million+ in new local revenue for other businesses in the purchase of goods and services due to increased spending by the company, the company's employees, and the overall ripple effect from Loffredo's presence in the community.

Yet another important point is that this project helps create further balance for the area's economy.  Warren County presently has a total of 600 manufacturing jobs.  Norwalk has a fraction of these jobs.  This project, by itself, increases the manufacturing job base by more than 25 percent.  Warren County has a strong need for more companies which produce things, innovate, and add new value to the marketplace, and this is one such opportunity.

Further, the Loffredo Fresh Produce expansion also provides an infusion of new commercial/industrial tax base.  Once the first five years of financial assistance are passed, the project is expected to generate over $1.8 million in total tax revenue over the next 20 years.  The payback potential is made more certain once the company's stability is considered.  Loffredo Fresh Produce is a family-owned, multigenerational business rooted in Central Iowa since the turn of the 20th Century.

Many different players have spent a lot of time on securing the Loffredo Fresh Produce project in Norwalk. The project would not have been possible, however, without the efforts of many to go all out in 2011 to keep Capital City Fruit in Norwalk.  Keeping existing companies happy results in positive economic development.  Loffredo Fresh Produce has the potential of being both Norwalk and Warren County's largest primary sector employer.  On behalf of the Warren County Economic Development Corporation, thank you to Gene Loffredo and the entire Loffredo family for choosing to invest in Norwalk and Warren County!