Representatives of three of Iowa’s largest business organizations say they were encouraged to hear a renewed emphasis on jobs creation by President Obama in last night’s State of the Union address, but are concerned about the quality of the jobs that would be created.

“I think all Americans know that job creation is issue number one,” said Mike Ralston, president of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI). “Of course, the devil is in the details, and there weren’t a lot of details in the speech, but President Obama always makes a compelling case when he speaks, and when he focuses on the economy, that’s what our members always like to see.”

Among Obama’s proposals was to “take $30 billion of the money Wall Street banks have repaid and use it to help community banks give small businesses the credit they need to stay afloat.”

Ralston, whose organization has approximately 1,300 member businesses that employ about 300,000 Iowans, said he believes most ABI members would support that proposal, despite the varied opinions they had about the bank bailout.

However, he added: “For ABI members, what most of them want from the government is not more money from the government but less regulation. They’re not opposed to taxes, but they don’t want to have to pay more unnecessarily. They want their money spent wisely.”

Obama also proposed a new small business tax credit for companies that hire new workers or increase wages, as well as the elimination of capital gains taxes on investments by small businesses and a tax incentive for all businesses to invest in new plants and equipment.

Doug Reichardt, chairman of the Greater Des Moines Partnership, said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the speech.

“It was delightful to hear that he said that he was proposing lowering taxes and (having) less government intrusion in the regulation of small and medium-sized business, and that that is now going to be part of the going-forward strategy.”

Reichardt said he was also pleased to hear that Obama, who “less than a month ago slammed the door on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,” appears more willing to enter into a dialogue with business leaders.

Elliott Smith, executive director of the Iowa Business Council, said it will be important to focus on creating career-oriented, highly skilled jobs, not just temporary construction jobs to spur the economy. The Business Council is made up of executives from the state’s largest companies.

“If the high-speed rail project that he’s visiting today in Florida is an example of the types of jobs he’s talking about, I hope there’s more to it than that,” Smith said.

Reducing the federal deficit is a big concern among Business Council members, he said, and Obama’s proposal to freeze federal spending for three years is a good start, but much more will be needed to reduce the deficit.

Obama’s comments regarding penalizing companies that shift jobs overseas was a concern, Elliott said.

“That’s a great sound bite, but there’s a lot more to that story when it comes to what business has to cope with in this country,” he said. “That was the most notable concern; it really needs to be more than just going after a company because it has a part made in another country. There are a lot of variables involved in a statement like that. Nobody wants to see jobs move outside the country, but you really have to evaluate all the pieces of that, including costs of labor and health-care costs.”