The news out last week that Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stayed at 2.4 percent last month made this bit of news from a Bloomberg article all the more interesting — a survey of Coursera users showed the U.S. falls behind European countries in some critical fields. Bloomberg wrote: “The results underscore that the U.S. must invest more in better developing skilled labor to support the kind technological innovation that will keep the economy competitive globally. Coursera created the measures to track global skill trends based on data compiled from 40 million assessments by 3 million platform users from 60 countries and 10 industries.” Iowa’s low unemployment rate means businesses are in the hunt for skilled employees. Technology-related workers are especially needed, we hear consistently from local leaders. Efforts to increase the number of tech workers and skilled workers overall are underway. This article serves as a reminder that those efforts are critical. There is one bright spot noted in the report: The Midwest was recognized as being among the top areas for business.