In 2012, the Iowa economy will…?
Leader and reader responses
We wanted to take the economic temperature of the business leaders here in Iowa. To do so, we had our reporters poll one leader from each of their beats, and we set up an unscientific online poll – results to the right – for our readers, asking the above question. Then we asked each leader and our readers…
“What do you think the impact will be of the economy on your particular industry?”
Leader reponse
LAW & GOVERMENT: 
“I’m pretty bullish, actually. But I think across the board, I would have to say improve slightly. With Iowa being an ag-based economy, with so much wealth and success in the ag economy, that drives other businesses and business ideas, and that spins off wealth, and the wealth gets invested. That capital is moving toward other projects. On the local level, manufacturing is really improving quickly. The free trade agreements, the impact on the positive side will be dramatic, but has not been fully felt yet in Iowa.”
HR & EDUCATION:
“We’re seeing companies start to hire a lot more direct-hire placement. We’re seeing companies start to hire more temporary staffing. We’re also starting to see a nice uptick in the high-level contract hires such as information technology and accounting professionals. Most of our clients had their people work a lot of extra hours (in 2008-10), and they really didn’t do a lot of hiring. But it seems like companies have the capital to do what they need to do.”
HEALTH & WELLNESS: 
Remain about the same
“I think there is concern throughout Iowa in the health-care profession about what could happen (with Medicare and Medicaid payments). There are smaller hospitals in Iowa that are struggling to keep their heads above water right now.”
ARCHITECTURE: 
“We’re in a steady growth mode right now. We’re optimistic about 2012. The construction industry will see big improvements in the following year. We’re seeing more requests for proposals. It’s still mostly coming from the public sector. I don’t think that until the overall economy shows signs of improving is the confidence level going to be be up enough to generate a lot of activity. We’re beginning to design some retail; that’s a good sign. The work in Central Iowa has been slower than Eastern Iowa, and hopefully that will start turning around.”
FINANCE:
“I think we have a lot of pent-up demand in the business community. They have the ability (to make new investments and expand) but they just have chosen not to do so.”
TECHNOLOGY:
“It can only do good things. If people are making money in other areas, and they are able to then use what they feel is discretionary funds, or they want to jump into it, I think that’s all good. It’s not going to be overnight. It’s still going to be hard to raise capital. It makes it just slightly easier for the entrepreneurs to spend a little less time raiding money.”
INSURANCE:
“We still have places in the country that are significantly depressed; California is Allied’s biggest premium state and the recovery has been slow there. Iowa is actually pretty well favored compared to a lot of states that we do business in.”
ENGINEERING: 
“Until we get traditional funding streams corrected or new revenue streams found, we will find our infrastructure continues to decay at a faster pace than we are able to maintain.” Wandro said. State, county and local governments have lost traditional sources of funds to maintain sewer and water systems, bridges and roads, and he noted that proposed new taxes, such as an increase in the gasoline tax, will be insufficient to meet existing and future needs. “We’re looking at a combination of different storms coming together.”
CONSTRUCTION:
Scott Norvell, President and CEO, Master Builders of Iowa
“There’s not visibility; there’s no confidence in the economy. The markets just haven’t figured out which way they are going right now; consequently there’s just not a lot of confidence that conditions will remain stable and the economy is open for business.”
SALES/MARKETING:
“Advertising as a whole tends to be a pretty good indication of how the economy is. The outlook for our business, I think it follows the country. The outlook for Flynn Wright is we’re extremely optimistic. If the economy improves, the industry improves. It will go hand in hand with it; it really will.”
MANUFACTURING:
“We generally work with a lot of manufacturers (throughout the United States), and they’re (operating) lean. I think there’s a little bit of a manufacturing renaissance going on in this country. I think they’re cautiously optimistic. Just the slightest uptick in growth, and their business will take off. I don’t see us regressing.”
COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE: Remain about the same
“2012 seems to be a year of cautious optimism,” Murray said. “But we’re definitely seeing more loosening in the marketplace, whether it’s investing or developing their own property. Lenders on a national level are showing more interest. There is more non-recourse money, and the private equity group is getting re-acclimated. On the flip side, there are going to be some challenges. There were loan rewrites in 2008, 2009 that are going to be maturing; appraisal values have come down. It still boils down to location, and the good locations are in demand.”
TRANSPORTATION:
“I think you’re going to see some efforts on investment into infrastructure, and so that would include transportation investment for both jobs in the construction industry and then also economic development opportunities. Infrastructure investment leads to other development taking place. With the infrastructure down, development comes in, the tax base goes up, and that allows you to do other infrastructure projects.”
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:
“Greater focus on efficiency and innovation has, for the most part, allowed Iowa business leaders to keep their companies competitive during the recent economic turmoil. However, challenges to free enterprise remain on various levels. For example: tight money lending, exploding national and international government debt obligations, skilled workforce shortages. Policy work on the state and national levels often addresses problems of the day by tenaciously clinging to political and social structures that go back many decades; as a result, regulatory and statutory barriers that burden and stifle economic growth remain embedded within government and education systems.
CULTURE:
MD Isley, Executive director, Bravo Greater Des Moines
“For the arts and cultural sector of this regional economy, any improvement is good. Improvement means that our area hotels will likely see more occupancy, which will result in increased hotel/motel tax revenue that, in part, goes to support the important work of our area arts and cultural organizations. An improved economy ultimately means more funds available to the cultural consumer to attend more events, purchase memberships, etc., and for the arts supporter to make larger charitable contributions more often. A thriving arts and cultural sector creates ‘ripple effects’ of benefits throughout our region in both economic impact and community benefit.”
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