Iowa Business Report 26-11 (Mar. 13-15, 2026)

March 15, 2026·23 min·2 clips

Iowa's economic dashboard reveals top rankings in manufacturing, but a surprising labor force decline threatens growth.

Resilience is the through line. Jeff Stein opens by connecting Iowa's business climate to the Iowa Business Council's latest Competitive Dashboard, released the Tuesday before the program. Joe Murphy gives the main read on the numbers. He says the report fits the council's work on Iowa's economic vitality and competitiveness across several factors. The education section is measured. Murphy says fourth grade reading and eighth grade math proficiency still need attention, though results improved from the prior two years. Workforce preparation gets a firmer tone. He points to the Iowa work-based learning act as a useful framework with new definitions and rigorous standards. Schools and employers are being pulled closer together. Murphy says those standards help companies and districts build pre-apprenticeship programs, registered apprenticeships, and high school internships with retention and hiring in mind. The jump is hard to miss. Compared with the previous year, more than 11,000 additional Iowa high school students joined high-quality work-based learning programs. The statewide total now tops 36,000. Murphy treats that as career exploration, not a side project, and wants every Iowa high school student to have the chance to participate. The data system is still young. Since the standards were put in place two years earlier, he expects future data to give policies and procedures firmer footing. Stein keeps pulling the conversation back to schools, employers, and early exposure to real career options. The program also tees up updated economic data, another look at the pending right to repair bill, and a Northeast Iowa development profile.

As heard by us

A clean Iowa business briefing that connects competitiveness, workforce policy, and local development.

This Iowa business briefing pulls together competitiveness, the Iowa Business Council's latest Competitive Dashboard, the pending right to repair bill, and a Northeast Iowa development profile without losing its footing.

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Why you'd press play

You want the data behind Iowa's competitiveness and the workforce story underneath it.

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