This past Tuesday, March 13, 2018 the Grinnell Rotary Club gathered at the Westside Family Restaurant for their weekly meeting. The Rotary Club's guest speaker was Jack Mutti, Semi-retired Grinnell College Professor of Economics. Jack continues to support independent study students at Grinnell College in some capacity. Jack highlighted the economic status of our country and shared an overview of our country’s steady growth over the last few years.
Jack also highlighted current administrative strategies that continue the growth of our economy. He provided a variety of statistical information and trends over the last three years. Areas in which economists continue to pay close attention to following the recession of 2008-09 are the labor market, wage increase, inflation, jobs and labor force productivity. He highlighted that Iowa in particular “is well above the national average for employment, 66% as compared to the national average of 60%”. Jack explained that economists attempt to make sense of the impact of the stock market and CPI, and how it will affect wage increases in the near future. What was most interesting was his explanation of how the value of the dollar in 2016 skyrocketed to 10%, yet only a year later it dropped. Jack talked about the reasons why labor productivity may have spiked during certain times in our history such as the invention of something new, like electricity. I wonder what the next key life changing invention will be that may spike future labor productivity? Maybe it is just around the corner.
Janet M. Stutz