(SIOUX CITY, IA) State Steel is one of many private companies that's hiring - opening up a few manufacturing positions.
The Co-owner and Officer, David Bernstein has been riding this economic roller coaster for years.
Metal on metal means money is being made at this Sioux City factory.
"Our hope is that we are going to be going into a growth period. I think manufacturing the Midwest generally has that forecast," says Bernstein.
He has been an owner of State Steel Supply since the early 1990's and says times got tough a few years ago.
"2009 in particular was a terrible year and we had many many folks as did our competitors, we were having a hard time coming up with 40 hours a week for every body," he says.
Iowa added 7,100 new manufacturing positions in the last year and Bernstein says his company is ready to hire.
"We have numerous positions that we are still trying to fill and we are finding that in some cases its becoming more difficult to fill them," he says.
It's good news the national unemployment rate went down but state steel supply says it's treading lightly to see if the trend remains.
Overall, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota have fared better than other parts of the U.S. during the recession and still are - the December unemployment rates in all three states were below 5%.
Bernstein says the region's manufacturing base is a big reason why.
"I don't know is people always think about that. They think about Agriculture but with agriculture comes combines and tractors and trailers and sprayers and all that stuff and most of that is made out of steel," says Bernstein.
And as long as these sparks are flying Bernstein says State Steel will work to give its employees a life in Sioux City.
"Our company philosophy is you want to provide a career. You don't just want to advertise a job and bring in someone for a year. That's not fair to the people you bring in," he says.
South Dakota's unemployment rate went up .1% in January, Nebraska's remained unchanged and Iowa has yet to release its January jobs numbers.
Hleigh@siouxlandnews.com
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