Governor Culver Speaks with Iowa Workers
Posted on Wednesday, February 3 at 10:12am
Governor Culver spoke to the Iowa Building Trades and Construction Council today about continuing to move Iowa forward by creating jobs and investing in our economy through I-JOBS. Here is a photo from the event, and you can view more photos here. You can also click the keep reading link below for an excerpt of his remarks.
Here's an excerpt of the speech he gave today:
We’re literally rebuilding our state, and our economy at the same time. And, this focus on building for the long haul is now paying some big dividends.
We now have the have the 8th fastest growing economy in the United States. We were recently recognized as being the 4th best place in America to do business - up from 9th just one year ago, and Iowa now has the lowest cost of doing business of “any” of the fifty states.
And just a few weeks ago, according to MarketWatch, Des Moines was named the “Number one” city in America to do business.
These aren’t just statistics – they are tools which will help us continue to attract good-paying jobs to Iowa, and encourage existing companies to expand!
As an example, I am proud of the fact that we have been able to bring to Iowa nearly 3,500 new good-paying jobs at companies like Google in Council Bluffs, Aviva in West Des Moines and IBM in Dubuque.
These exciting projects are just the tip of the iceberg: Since 2007, private industry has brought more than $7.4 billion in new capital investment to Iowa.
So, our business climate – even during this difficult recession – continues to outperform our neighbors, putting us on a clear path to recovery.