Official Says Ames Added 2,300 Jobs in Past Year; Projects Positive Jobs Growth

Peter F. Orazem, an Iowa State University economics professor and a member of the Ames City Council, has released a report showing positive signs for the state of jobs in Ames and surrounding areas.

"All in all, the past year was a remarkable one for job growth in Ames, given its recent past performance, and signals bode well for the coming year," Orazem writes.

His report is attached to this article as a PDF under the picture to the right.

Orazem writes that Ames added 2,300 jobs from April 2011 to April 2012. The private service sector jobs were among the fastest growing, while prospects for public sector job growth is slim.

Here is one snipet:

As of April 2011. the Ames economy hosted 47,400 jobs, exactly the same employment level as in April 1999. Ames added 2,300 jobs between April 2011 and April 2012! In other words, Ames added 2,300 jobs in 13 years, all of them in the past year. Needless to say, this is the most impressive year of job creation in the recorded history of the Ames labor market.

Historically, Ames has relied on public sector jobs with 43% of its jobs in local, state, or federal government. Cuts to state funding have led to recent losses of state jobs and prospects for future public sector growth are dim.