Members of Iowa's newly formed economic recovery task force said they want to look at big ideas to help Iowa rebound from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Governor's Economic Recovery Advisory Board — a group of business executives and industry leaders tasked with assessing the economic impact of coronavirus and recommending next steps for recovery and growth — held its first meeting Thursday as the state continues to show gradual signs of recovery.
"I think it's going to be important for us to ... really start from a blank sheet of paper, and pretend as if we were just showing up in this state," said board member Adam Wright, President & CEO of MidAmerican Energy Co. "So my challenge is not to get boxed in with what we've always done."
Over the next three months, the board will look for ideas to help several areas of Iowa ranging from agriculture, connectivity, education, government, public health and workforce issues. The board will make formal recommendations to the governor in October.
Gov. Kim Reynolds established the board by executive order last week. On Thursday, she told board members she wants to see the state embrace new opportunities.
"We can simply return to where we were — which, really, that could be a fairly ambitious and realistic goal — or we can take what we've learned and the innovation that's been applied over these past four months and really start to reimagine how we do business," Reynolds told board members.
Thursday's meeting was primarily informational, with board members hearing from various state agencies and discussing how their respective industries had been affected by the virus.
Some members began suggesting areas of interest, such as increasing broadband access to creating stronger partnerships between hospitals and the community.
Iowa is showing "tentative" signs of recovery from the virus, but challenges remain, said Robin Anderson, chief economist and administrator of the Iowa Department of Revenue’s research and policy division.
"Job growth has picked up — that's great news that we added 15,800 jobs in May — but there's not a lot of breadth and job gains across industries," she said.
New unemployment claims peaked at 64,194 the week of March 29-April 4, and thousands of new claims have been initiated each week. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday morning reported 8,542 new unemployment claims and 153,771 continuing claims in Iowa during the week that ended Saturday.
"Even though we've seen fewer people file initially, people aren't really coming off of unemployment," Anderson said. "We've seen a little bit of recovery there, but not as much as what we've seen with initial jobless claims."
Anderson said she also believes fewer people are seeking unemployment, as well, which means the drop in Iowa's unemployment rate doesn't tell the whole story.
Ian Richardson covers the Iowa Statehouse for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at irichardson@registermedia.com, at 515-284-8254, or on Twitter at @DMRIanR.
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