Labor Supply in Iowa: Policies for Economic Growth

Many see the United States as being in transition from a labor surplus economy in the 1970s and 1980s to a labor shortage economy in the 1990s. In the coming decade, demographic trends imply that the U.S. workforce will age and that fewer young people will be entering the workforce than in the past. Barring greatly increased immigration, the U.S. labor force will grow more slowly over the next decade than it has during the past two decades. An increasing share of the U.S. labor force will be women and members of racial and ethnic minorities, and an increasing share of jobs will require relatively high education and skill levels. There is growing concern that the education and training of entrants to the labor force has not been keeping pace with the increasing demand for skilled workers.