Supporting Generation Iowa

Like many Midwestern states, Iowa faces some major demographic challenges. Its workforce is rapidly aging, and future workforce shortages loom. Meanwhile, many of Iowa’s younger and more educated workers leave the state for opportunities in larger metropolitan areas. Iowa’s leaders have been thinking about how to address these challenges.

As part of this effort, the Iowa Legislature created the Generation Iowa Commission http://www.iowalifechanging.com/generation/index.asp , composed of young leaders between the ages of 18 and 35, to offer recommendations on how Iowa can better nurture, attract and retain young professionals. The Commission has recently published its final report that contains lots of useful ideas for how Iowa–or other communities–could make itself more attractive to Generations X, Y, and beyond.

The Commission’s recommendations include proposals to raise wages for younger workers (via revised tax incentives for the creation of higher paying jobs), reduce student debt loads (through a higher education tax credit, and a student loan repayment assistance program), expand local job opportunities (through a state job and internship exchange, and government procurement preferences for young entrepreneurs), and to improve the quality of life for young Iowans through expanded arts, culture, and recreation initiatives.

Learn more about the Generation Iowa Commission and its recommendations. http://www.iowalifechanging.com/generation/index.asp

(Many thanks to The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship http://www.publicforuminstitute.org/nde/news/nde-news.htm for passing this along. Russ