Moines, has been in the home-remodeling field for more than years, starting out by working his way through college. One change in the industry is the focus on “green” or environmental methods. That increases costs, such as certification to handle lead-based paint properly. The layers of government involvement go all the way to the local level, with each community determining sprinkler requirements. Even so, he’s optimistic: “The last three years haven’t been good for housing, whether building or remodeling,” he said. “But your house is still a good place to put your money.” Bryan Regier, one of the pastors at STILL LOOKING: JobFaith Bible Church in Cedar Rapids, seekers check job said that the church had nine or postings at St. Mark families out of work in , when the Presbyterian Church city battled a flood, and the jobless are in Ballwin, Mo.
[employees] before the recession hit. Everybody quit buying. We had to retrench and reorganize, but we’re surviving,” he said. “We’ll be here, but it’s been a tough three years.” He started a heavy truck alignment business in . He and an engineer then teamed up to manufacture the equipment to align trucks, and he pivoted to selling the product in . The general lack of confidence in the economy is now costing him sales. Most of his buyers plan to finance their purchases, yet many have trouble getting the necessary financing. For about months, he did not have any financed sales because purchasers could not get loans. A secondary complication is not new: Each state has different tax laws, increasing paperwork for each out-of-state sale. Rollie Clarkson, owner of Remodeling Contractors in Des
always a part of their ministry. “People found employment again, but they’re underemployed,” he said. The church has a benevolence fund and an ad hoc committee process in place for when members end up in financial turmoil. They start by working up a new, lean budget. “We don’t just bail them out,” he said. “We get the numbers down, and we address hard issues.” Jobs are a constant topic of presidential hopefuls in Iowa, and Gov. Terry Branstad is touring the state talking jobs in town halls. With the federal government already borrowing cents on the dollar, Branstad expects to continue looking for solutions at the state level. “This is a very slow recovery,” he said. “That’s why we’ve got to control costs.” A
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The Lutz Pharmacy employs people, a mix of full and part-time. Pharmacies have some built-in immunity to downturns, buoyed by customers using government and third-party payers. But the economy is a concern to them because they’re now in view of that point in their lives when they will expect to find a buyer and retire. Still closed on Sundays, the store’s front doubles as Healing Touch Book and Bible. The little Christian bookstore is partly just something they wanted to do, partly another way to differentiate from the national chains. “One of the benefits of being an independent business is that you can make decisions quickly and change gears,” Lutz said. Across town, the downturn had a bigger hit on Mike Beckett’s small business, manufacturing equipment for heavy-truck alignment, which now employs just six. “We were up to
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