Iowans face stagnant wage growth, declining job quality, starkly higher costs for family basics like health care and education, labor standards that are slipping or evaded altogether, a loss of voice and bargaining power in the workplace, and meager or poorly designed social policies. As author Colin Gordon writes:
“The forces bearing on the economic fortunes and economic opportunities of working Iowans are relentless.”
Read our news release or view the report online or as a PDF 12/18/12
Hear IPP's David Osterberg on KVFD-AM's “Devine Intervention” program with Mike Devine 12/21/12
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Although most Americans under 65 rely on health insurance offered through the workplace, the rate of coverage continues to decline, and faster in Iowa than nationally.
Read our news release or view the report from the Economic Policy Institute (PDF) 12/6/12
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Health insurance coverage for young Iowa adults grew during the time after passage of the new health-care law, new data from the Census Bureau show.
Read our news release or download 2-page PDF 9/20/12
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Data from the Census' Current Population Survey illustrate stubborn issues for Iowans in gaining health insurance coverage and better incomes, and breaking free of poverty.
Read our news release or download 2-page PDF 9/12/12
“When over 300,000 people cannot get health insurance in our state, it is no time to be turning back efforts to increase access.” — IPP's Peter Fisher
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The period around Labor Day is a good time to consider new public policy opportunities, particularly those affecting the hundreds of thousands of low-wage workers, most of whom have seen their real wages actually decline over the last decade. IPP and others have shown at least three areas where the state could move quickly to improve opportunity for Iowa’s working families.
Read our IPP Policy Shapshot or download 2-page PDF 9/2/12
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Too many Iowans are not paid wages they are legally owed, and woefully limited state enforcement efforts are failing to protect workers, honest employers and Iowa taxpayers from a growing epidemic of wage theft.
“Workers’ hard-earned wages are being stolen, the state is losing revenues, and good businesses are being put at a market disadvantage against shifty competitors.” — co-author Colin Gordon
Read our full report 30-page PDF 8/27/12
Read our executive summary 2-page PDF
Read our news release or download 2-page PDF
View blog post on Iowa Policy Points by co-author Jennifer Sherer
Hear David Osterberg's interview with Mike Devine of KVFD-AM 1400 Fort Dodge
Hear Colin Gordon's interview with Ed Fallon on "The Fallon Forum"
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An estimated 332,000 Iowans would see direct or indirect benefits from an increase in the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.80 per hour by July 2014, according to a new analysis.
Read our news release or download 2-page PDF 8/15/12
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To a remarkable extent, inequality, which fell during the New Deal but has risen dramatically since the late 1970s, corresponds to the rise and fall of unionization in the United States.
See the Economic Snapshot from the Economic Policy Institute by Ross Eisenbrey of EPI and Colin Gordon, U of Iowa history professor and IPP senior research consultant 6/5/12
Also see the animated graphs in Colin Gordon's post on EPI's "working economics" blog 6/5/12
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IPP's latest report on The Cost of Living in Iowa recommends that Iowa expand existing work supports to close a demonstrated gap between low Iowa wages and what is necessary to support a basic, frugal family budget.
Read our report or download 24-page PDF 5/31/12
Read our news release
For county-by-county information, click here
Hear Peter Fisher's interview on Mike Devine's "Devine Intervention" program on KVFD Fort Dodge
Peter Fisher's presentation slides to United Way of the Quad-Cities 9/18/12 NEW!
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The "Rebuild America Act" proposed today by Senator Tom Harkin offers several steps that would benefit the middle class and rejuvenate the American economy. Over the last 10 years, IPP has recommended policies that are touched on by several parts of the Senator’s proposal.
Read our statement or download 1-page PDF 3/29/12
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Raising the Iowa Earned Income Tax Credit from 7 percent of the federal EITC to 20 percent not only would raise the threshold at which Iowa families start to owe state income taxes, but would boost local economies throughout the state. In fact, the increase would provide an average benefit per House district of almost $550,000, which residents would use in their local economy.
Read our policy brief 4-page PDF 3/29/12
Read EITC: A Hand Up to Working Families, Local Economy 3-page PDF 2/17/12
Read Support for Working Iowa Families or download 3-page PDF 12/29/11
Read Andrew Cannon's guest opinion in the Iowa City Press-Citizen or download 2-page PDF 2/24/12
Tests of this legislative session: TIF reform, and improvements to working-family tax policy and preschool.
Read Iowa Fiscal Partnership statement 1/10/12
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Nearly 143,000 Iowans lost employer-sponsored health coverage in a dramatic national decline in job-based insurance over the last decade.
Read our Iowa news release or download 2-page PDF 2/23/12
Read the Economic Policy Institute report 26-page PDF 2/23/12
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The 2012 legislative session offers lawmakers a timely opportunity to review and expand Iowa’s Earned Income Tax Credit.
Read Iowa Fiscal Partnership policy brief 3-page PDF 2/17/11
Read Iowa Fiscal Partnership policy brief or download 3-page PDF 12/29/11
The test of this legislative session will be how lawmakers fill in the blanks left by Governor Branstad's Condition of the State address. That means reform of tax-increment financing, and improvements to working-family tax policy and preschool in Iowa.
Read Iowa Fiscal Partnership statement 1/10/12
A day before a legislative panel reviewed four state tax-credit programs, a new national report put a spotlight on Iowa’s poor treatment of low-income working families.
Read Iowa Fiscal Partnership news release 11/15/11
Read Des Moines Register story: "Have state tax credits worked for Iowa?" 11/16/11
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Not only do economic development deals often fall short on job creation or other benefits, states are highly inconsistent in how they monitor, verify and enforce the terms of job subsidies that cost taxpayers billions of dollars per year. A national study gives Iowa a C-plus on that score.
Read Good Jobs First / IPP news release 4-page PDF 1/18/12
Read Good Jobs First executive summary 8-page PDF
Read Iowa appendix 2-page PDF
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A changing labor market is diverting workers from jobs that offer insurance toward nonstandard work or arrangements that make finding affordable insurance difficult, a trend that contributes to job instability, according to a new report.
Read full report 59-page PDF 10/5/11
Read executive summary or download 2-page PDF
Read news release
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To replace lost jobs and keep up with population growth, Iowa will need to add 3,000 jobs a month over the next three years.
Read executive summary 9/2/11
Download full report
Read news release
“By any measure, this will be the longest recovery in Iowa’s modern history.” — IPP’s Noga O’Connor
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Iowa does better than most states, but that's not necessarily saying much, a new report shows.
Read news release or download 2-page PDF 12/14/11
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Twelve percent of Iowa households have been challenged to put adequate food on the table at some point in the year.
Read report 18-page PDF 11/22/11
Read executive summary or download 5-page PDF
Read news release
"What we can see is that all of these efforts, public and private, are critical to helping all Americans meet food needs" — IPP's Andrew Cannon
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A greater share of Iowans were uninsured, with poverty up and median household income down in 2010 from the 2008 recession year, according to data released Thursday by the Census Bureau.
The data released Thursday showed Iowa to have an uninsured rate of 9.3 percent in 2010, up from 8.7 percent in 2008, which was when the 2007 recession started showing its Iowa effects in job declines.
Read news release 2-page PDF 9/22/11
"At least 1 in 11 Iowans were without insurance in 2010. This presents policy makers with important information at a time some are talking about cuts in Medicaid and Medicare. Even without cuts, more people lack coverage." — IPP's Noga O'Connor
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Should Iowa require residents to find insurance through a broker, or online at their convenience, as federal health reform law intends?
Read Iowa Fiscal Partnership backgrounder or download 2-page PDF file 3/3/11 NEW!
What is an "exchange" anyway? backgrounder or download 2-page PDF file 2/17/11
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Though the federal health reform law remains a lightning rod, making sure that Iowans have access to adequate health care is something most Iowans can agree on. The Affordable Care Act contains provisions that have the potential to benefit hundreds of thousands of Iowans. Health Benefits Exchanges are the central feature of the act.
Read Iowa Fiscal Partnership policy brief or download 7-page PDF file 12/21/10
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While economic challenges are immense, some policy options could make a real difference to help families respond, and to build longer-term prosperity and security.
Read IPP Backgrounder or download 5-page PDF 2/8/11
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If improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit expire at the end of the year, fewer dollars would pass through to the lowest-earning workers and there would be greater need for public assistance for their families.
Read backgrounder or download 2-page PDF 11/22/10
How could it be that 1 in 9 Iowa households had trouble putting food on the table in 2007-09?
Read news release or download 2-page PDF 11/16/10
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Repercussions for the Iowa economy — and not just the currently unemployed — hang in the balance as Congress decides whether to maintain unemployment insurance.
Read backgrounder 1-page PDF 11/16/10
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Wage data show many Iowans are unable to meet a carefully determined standard for what it takes to support their families. As wages stagnate and even decrease during this recession, Iowa needs to maintain or expand work supports, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Child Care Assistance and public health insurance.
Full report 53-page PDF including county-by-county tables 1/26/10
Backgrounder HTML or 2-page PDF
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Discount medical plans emerging in an increasingly expensive and confusing health-care market are creating a "legion of problems," according to an Iowa researcher who examined the sprawling and unevenly regulated industry. "In some cases, states are stepping in to protect consumers,"
says Colin Gordon.
Download full report or read 1-page executive summary 12/16/10
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Provisions that took effect Sept. 23 marked a milestone for health reform in the Affordable Care Act passed last spring.
Thousands of Iowans will benefit.
Read policy brief or download 4-page PDF 9/22/10
News release
"Iowans won't have to postpone preventive care for financial reasons, or worry about expensive care causing them to exhaust their lifetime insurance benefits. And young adults and children will have better prospects to keep insurance."
— IPP's Andrew Cannon
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Increasing numbers of children and their families in every county in Iowa are benefiting from new public health insurance initiatives.
Read backgrounder or download 2-page PDF 7/27/10
Read news release. View map.
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Over 50,000 Iowa small businesses and their employees could get or keep health insurance now with opportunities in the new health reform law.
Read the Iowa Fiscal Partnership policy brief or download 3-page PDF 7/22/10
News release 2-page PDF
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Proposed tax-credit reform legislation in the Iowa Legislature falls well short of its stated goals for better accountability and savings for Iowa taxpayers.
IPP Policy Brief, HTML, PDF (3 pages) or News Release PDF (1 page) 4/29/10
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Hundreds of thousands of Iowans will find their health care situation drastically improved, thanks to the passage and enactment of health reform.
IPP Policy Brief, HTML or PDF (4 pages) 3/24/10
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Health reform will remove a barrier to entrepreneurship in Iowa.
IPP Policy Snapshot, 3 pages PDF 3/17/10
See more IPP Policy Snapshots on health care reform by IPP's Andrew Cannon:
Health Coverage in Rural Iowa, 2 pages PDF 11/6/09
Leveling Field for Small Business, 2 pages PDF 8/6/09
Making Health Care Affordable, 2 pages PDF 8/6/09
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Iowa's health-insurance shortage is worse in the latter part of this decade than it was at the start — 9.4 percent of Iowans went without coverage in 2007-08.
News release PDF, 2 pg 9/10/09
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In Iowa and elsewhere, demagoguery and emotion have obscured fact-based discussion of the health reform proposals in Congress. These new IPP backgrounders are designed to help a more productive discussion.
Health Insurance Exchanges (PDF, 3 pg). 8/13/09
Play or Pay — the Role of Mandates (PDF, 2 pg). 8/13/09
Paying for Health Reform (PDF, 2 pg). 8/13/09
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Iowa working families face a better job market than found in many states, but the state's economy is still struggling and far from its pre-recession performance.
Full Report (10 page PDF) 9/5/10
News release HTML 9/5/10
Previous issues in our State of Working Iowa series
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Increasing health-coverage access by expanding Medicaid eligibility can expand workers’ options for employment while improving income and long-term economic opportunity for low-income families.
Full report (PDF, 23 pg) 6/10/09
Executive summary (PDF, 4 pg)
News release (PDF, 1 pg) HTML | |
Without an extension of unemployment benefits for long-term unemployed, Iowans would see a delayed economic recovery, while workers long unemployed through no fault of their own need help.
Iowa Fiscal Partnership backgrounder 6/25/10
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No matter the indicator — unemployment rates, wages or poverty — it is undeniable that education pays for Iowans. A projected shortage of skilled labor combined with the rising cost to families for postsecondary education demands that Iowa invest in workforce education to address our state’s education gap.
Backgrounder PDF, 2 pgs 11/5/09
Testimony of Lily French to Job Training Needs Study Committee PDF, 1 pg 11/3/09
Link to all testimony for Job Training Needs Study Committee 11/3/09
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Iowa could boost its economy and budget, help low-income workers and better prepare for the future if the state were to invest more in workforce education. 5/28/09
Full report (PDF, 31 pg)
Executive summary (PDF, 4 pg)
News release (PDF, 2 pg)
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Proposed changes in requirements for companies to qualify for subsidies appear to carry mixed results. The now-complicated system would be more simple to understand, and changes could result in a slight increase in actual wages in projects. But targeting the plan to boost manufacturing in urban areas may be difficult. Full Report (14 pg). (PDF) 3/31/09
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A new report from the National Center for Children in Poverty analyzes the effectiveness of Iowa’s “work supports” – such as earned income tax credits, public health insurance, and child care assistance. Work supports can close the gap between low earnings and basic expenses, but working more does not always pay as families lose eligibility for critical supports. Full report, news release from NCCP. 10/7/08
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Uninsurance in Iowa grew by one-third in seven years, while Iowans' median income improved slightly in 2007 and poverty remained high. News release 8/26/08
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| A new study reports growing income inequality in Iowa as the richest fifth of families make more than six times the income, on average, of the poorest fifth. The gap has grown in the last two decades according to a new national study from the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Read the press release and Iowa fact sheet, and the full report. 4/9/08 |
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Working families could benefit if policy makers and advocates use a new tool to analyze policy impacts on family budgets. The nonpartisan Iowa Fiscal Partnership announced the new Iowa Family Resource Simulator in partnership with the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University. Read the news release. 4/2/08
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More than half of Iowa jobs pay less than what is needed for a single parent with one child to provide for the family. A new IPP report examines both cost and income issues facing Iowa families of different sizes, county by county. "Our findings suggest that many hard-working Iowa families must go without, or go into debt, due to low wages," said researcher Beth Pearson. Read the full report, backgrounder and news release. 1/18/08
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Dec. 31, 2007 |
Iowa is ahead of the curve on policy for low-income families with its new $7.25 minimum wage. With poverty up, health coverage stagnant and income lagging the region, the wage boost could help families to make ends meet and help Iowa to make work pay. Read the news release.
Some tired arguments persist against Iowa's minimum-wage increase, almost a year after its approval — even though it was held down for a decade as other costs to both businesses and consumers grew. In fact, it helps low-income Iowans to purchase goods and services from the very busineses that complain the most. See the stories in the Burlington Hawk-Eye and Dubuque Telegraph-Herald.
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| Nov. 1, 2007 |
| From 2000 to 2006, 88,000 Iowans under the age of 65 fell from job-based health coverage either into the safety net of public programs, or right through that safety net into the ranks of the uninsured. Read our backgrounder.
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Tens of thousands of Iowa children have a stake in the wrangling in Washington over bipartisan efforts to the 10-year-old State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The compromise package vetoed by President Bush would reach more kids in low- to moderate-income working families who otherwise would not have insurance. SCHIP now reaches 37,000 Iowa children, a figure that would grow significantly under the legislation. Read the backgrounder on SCHIP facts and our guest opinion in the Iowa City Press-Citizen.
. More SCHIP resources from the Iowa Fiscal Partnership: a news release that addresses inaccurate claims about access for undocumented immigrants, and a one-page backgrounder and news release about what's at stake for Iowa. A two-page backgrounder shows how SCHIP successfully reaches uninsured children in working families. Also see KGAN-TV's interview with IPP's Mike Owen.
. More about the health-insurance shortage: Iowans at middle and lower incomes showed slippage in 2006 with a drop in income, a rise in poverty and a lingering rate of uninsurance. Read the news release. |
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| August 28, 2007 |
| Iowans at middle and lower incomes showed slippage in 2006 with a drop in income, a rise in poverty and a lingering rate of uninsurance. "There is not much comfort in these new numbers," says the IPP's David Osterberg. Read the Press Release. |
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| May 3, 2007 |
| New research published by the Economic Policy Institute shows the kinds of benefits the state can expect from its investments in early childhood education. Read the Press Release. |
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| March 31, 2007 |
| On Sunday, Iowa becomes the 29th state with a state minimum wage higher than the federal level.
Read the Press Release. |
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| January 15, 2007 |
| This November, six more states voted to raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation. A total of 28 states now have a minimum wage higher than the federal level. Iowa is NOT one of them. Read this January Backgrounder, and the November Update to our Full Report from July 2006. |
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| September 28, 2006 |
| One-quarter of the U.S. workforce has a nonstandard job and only 21 percent of those workers have health insurance from their job. Since 2001, the percentage of nonstandard workers without health insurance has increased by 4 percentage points to 28 percent. Read the Full Report. |
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| August 29, 2006 |
| Poverty keeps climbing in Iowa while health insurance coverage and household income show no improvement since the start of the decade. Read the Press Release and the Health Insurance Fact Sheet. |
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| July 19, 2006 |
| A minimum wage increase would benefit tens of thousands of working Iowans, the majority over age 20 and most of them female. Low-wage Iowans have been left behind as twenty-two other states -- home to more than half of the U.S. population -- have increased the minimum wage above the federal (and Iowa) level of $5.15. Read the Full Report and Press Release. Read more about the Methodology. |
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| June 30, 2006 |
| This is our second report completed for the Iowa Council on Homelessness based on data collected during the 2005 Iowa Statewide Homeless Study. In this report, we present a more detailed picture of mental health and homelessness in Iowa. Read the Report. |
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| March 1, 2006 (Updated April 20, 2006) |
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| Twenty states, home to more than half the U.S. population, have already raised the minimum wage. If the minimum wage was raised to $7.25 per hour, about 257,000 Iowans, or 18 percent of all workers, would receive a pay raise. Read the Backgrounder. |
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| January 12, 2006 |
| Just over 21,000 Iowans were homeless during 2005, an increase of 2,688 people since 1999. Families with children now make up the majority of all homeless households in Iowa. Read the Full Report. See the Survey Materials. |
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| December 1 , 2005 |
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| More and more Americans are in temporary, contract, and part-time jobs without health insurance. Many of these workers have a medical discount card instead of health insurance. As a result, the number of uninsured Americans may be greater than the commonly reported figure of 46 million. Read the Press Release and the Full Report. |
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| October 19, 2005 |
| A new program brokered by Iowa leaders to save health-care services may actually create problems for the low-income Iowans it seeks to serve. IowaCare does not necessarily deliver on its promise of expanding access to health care. Read the Full Report and Press Release. |
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| June 6, 2005 |
| One in 11 Iowans is “food insecure,” creating a demand for food assistance that government alone does not meet. There will be new challenges for nonprofit organizations if Congress cuts federal help. Read the Full Report and Press Release. |
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| March 7, 2005 |
| Almost 1 in 5 Iowans receives benefits from Social Security. Without Social Security, more than half of Iowa’s seniors would be in poverty. Read the Fact Sheet and Press Release. |
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| December 1, 2004 |
Despite the political firestorm that ensues when Iowa public officials talk about "project labor agreements" in the public sector, the evidence shows they work — and are a valued tool for both private-sector and public-sector construction. Our 2004 report remains the research standard on this topic in Iowa, and shoots factual holes through emotion-tinged arguments following Governor Culver's order for their use on state projects.
IPP report on PLAs (PDF)
Executive summary (PDF)
Frequently Asked Questions
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| October 12, 2004 |
| One in four working families in Iowa is low-income, earning less than $36,784 for a family of four. To make matters worse, low-income Iowans pay a larger share of their income in state and local taxes than the wealthiest Iowans. Read the Press Release. |
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| September 1, 2004 |
| Iowa legislators need to keep job quality and fiscal responsibility in mind next week when they return for a special session to restore the Grow Iowa Values Fund. Read the Press Release. |
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| August 26, 2004 |
| One in ten Iowans are now uninsured, a 2 percentage point increase over the last few years. The percentage of Iowans with employment-based health insurance also dropped 1.9 percentage points, suggesting that this is the primary cause for the increase in uninsured Iowans. Read the Press Release. |
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| August 26, 2004 |
| Median household income has fallen while poverty and the number of uninsured are on the rise in Iowa. Read the Press Release. |
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| July 8, 2004 |
| Rules to implement the Grow Iowa Values Fund need to be strengthened to assure the fund's promise of good jobs at good wages. Read the Full Report and Press Release. |
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| May 17, 2004 |
| The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released two reports that show an increase in the minimum wage does not result in job losses and would give a pay raise to more than 100,000 working Iowans. Read the Press Release. |
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| May 12, 2004 |
| Jobs in Iowa's high-growth industries not only pay less than jobs in shrinking industries, but they also are less likely to provide health-care benefits, according to a new report. Read the Press Release. |
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| September 25, 2003 |
| The Grow Iowa Values Fund presents an opportunity for the state to commit its economic development efforts toward high-wage jobs - but it will take more than what's in place now, Colin Gordon told the Grow Iowa Values Board. Read the Presentation Handout. |
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| September 1, 2002 |
| Iowa workers are still hurting from the recent economic downturn. Read the Press Release. |
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| September 1, 2002 |
| The Economic Policy Institute finds little evidence that the national recession is nearing an end. Read the Press Release and EPI's News Release. |
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