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Scrap the political math
At the Iowa Policy Project, we are pretty careful about the way we count. The way we use numbers reflects on our credibility as an independent, nonpartisan resource for all Iowans, no matter their...
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Digging a little deeper on Iowa jobs
Colin Gordon Governor Branstad’s claim that Iowa’s economy has created 100,000 jobs in two years is nonsense. We make this case in this morning’s Des Moines Register, pointing out that the Governor’s...
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Bad math, good math — and Iowa jobs
Those 31 points the Iowa Hawkeyes scored last Saturday were something, huh? It sure feels better when you don’t include Maryland’s 38 points. And that’s the way Governor Branstad counts jobs. Enough...
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About those jobs …
To read the headlines, you might not know we actually lost jobs the last two months. In fact, we’ve lost jobs in three of the last six months. Our monthly Iowa JobWatch report offers context you don’t...
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Finding closure on the job count
For years, we had to watch Governor Branstad’s bogus job count tracked on the official nonfarm jobs spreadsheets provided by Iowa Workforce Development. You might remember: The Governor set a goal for...
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Closing the books — why real math matters
Or: How Governor Branstad claimed to reach his jobs goal but did not come close As it all turned out, the job-growth goal set by former Governor Terry Branstad was at best ambitious, and never...
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Beyond jobless rate drop: Little for optimism
Iowa’s unemployment rate fell to 6.6 percent in July, down from its peak of 11 percent in April. But larger picture offers little grounds for optimism. The overall jobs deficit is still substantial....
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