Measuring the Skill Content of Iowa's Workforce


Evaluating the Higher-Level Skill Content of the Iowa Workforce and Its Competitiveness with the  Rest of the Nation

Dave Swenson and Liesl Eathington, September 2017

This report evaluates the demand for high-skilled workers in Iowa relative to other states.  The report quantifies demand using information about the state's current and projected occupational structure and its net migration exchanges with other states.

Evaluating the Higher-Level Skill Content of Iowa's Workforce


Exploring the Skills Gap in Iowa

Liesl Eathington and Dave Swenson, June 2015

Usage of the term “skills gap” is frequently vague and broad – which skills and why, how big is the gap, and where is it?  The research looks at the skills gap topic from the standpoint of

  • Investigating the broad nature of recent occupational change in the U.S.,
  • Developing descriptive indicators of skill levels using occupational groupings, and
  • Comparing and contrasting higher and middle skill supply and demand indicators across states
  • Evaluating Iowa's performance on various employment measures related to the middle skills gap debate.

Exploring the Skills Gap in Iowa