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GDDC urges 'bold action' on workforce as region faces shrinking working‑age population
Summary
Greater Dubuque Development Corporation presented its 2025 skills‑gap analysis and urged a more direct population‑growth strategy, highlighting a projected 3.8% job growth but a 3.7% decline in the working‑age population over the next decade and expanding gaps in childcare, welding and entry‑level occupations.
Jason White, president and CEO of the Greater Dubuque Development Corporation, opened the council work session on July 20 by framing the organization's role in competing for business, population and workforce. "My name is Jason White. I serve as the president and CEO of Greater Dubuque Development Corporation," he said, and turned the presentation to Nick Hockenberry, director of regional development, who led the 2025 skills‑gap analysis.
Hockenberry told the council the analysis compares annual job openings with completions from regional training programs using BLS and Census data. He said employment across the seven‑county Greater Dubuque labor shed is projected to grow 3.8% over the next decade while the working‑age population is expected to fall 3.7%, creating a sustained hiring squeeze. "The math no longer rewards patience," he said, summarizing the urgency the report places on simultaneous attraction, retention and development strategies.
The presentation identified health care/social assistance, manufacturing, and transportation and warehousing as the largest hiring industries, and highlighted occupational shifts: electricians entered the top 20 gaps, welders rose from #20 to #14, and the childcare worker gap nearly doubled, moving from #19 to #10. Hockenberry noted that many entry‑rung occupations (stockers, truck drivers, cooks, assemblers) are the primary outlets of regional certificate and diploma programs and that throughput — scaling training programs to meet demand — is the central operational challenge.
Hockenberry spotlighted Opportunity Dubuque, a partnership with Dubuque Works and Northeast Iowa Community College that provides tuition‑free certificates (e.g., CNC operators, CDL drivers, phlebotomists, CNAs) plus coaching and employer connections. Program alumnus Joseph Lewis testified in a short video that the program helped him find stable local work. Hockenberry said the program has produced roughly 4,100 graduates over its lifetime and reported a 93% retention rate for certain pathways.
Council members asked about technology and automation. In response to a question from Council Member Webb about artificial intelligence, Hockenberry said AI has been added to the analysis as a forward indicator but has not yet manifested in local employment data; he cited sales prospecting automation as an example of an entry‑level function that AI can displace.
The presentation concluded with six layered strategies the GDDC recommends for the coming year, including K–12 career introduction, scaling Opportunity Dubuque, retaining college graduates, welcoming newcomers, reducing transportation barriers and talent attraction as a core strategy. Staff said they will work with partners to identify one "bold action" that could move the needle regionally over the next decade.
The council received the report for discussion and thanked GDDC for the update. The work session adjourned and the regular meeting followed.
