Participants

A total of 49 companies (of 97 requested) responded to the web-based survey, a response rate of 50.5 percent. The companies represented the following industries:

Advanced Manufacturing – 33 companies

Manufacturing
Printing
Construction
Warehousing and Distribution

Information Technology – 13 companies

Insurance
Finance
Telecommunications
Information Technology
Services

Life Sciences – 3 companies

The results of the workforce survey, as expected, show a slower hiring market compared to the 1998 Skills 2000 survey conducted by DMACC and the Greater Des Moines Partnership. The 39 companies surveyed represent a total employment base of 16,918 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees. These companies indicated they will need to hire a total of 3,450 new and replacement workers within the next three years.

Community colleges remain an excellent source of training and education for a majority of the companies surveyed. The two best sources for training are internal—which community colleges can fund through Iowa’s state job training funds as well as Grow Iowa Values Fund--and traditional community college career and technical programs.