(Radio Iowa)- Iowa’s economy made healthy gains during December and mirrored strong growth for the nine-state Midwest region, according to a monthly survey from Creighton University. Despite climbing manufacturing numbers, Creighton economist Ernie Goss says supply chain delays worsened during the last month of the year, and the picture for the months ahead isn’t very bright. “Approximately one out of three supply managers expect supply chain bottlenecks to get worse in the first half of 2022,” Goss says, “and more than half of the supply managers reported that the Omicron variant was slowing deliveries, so that’s another concern out there.”

The Midwest’s G-D-P, or gross domestic product, rose during December, although hiring numbers fell during what’s typically one of the strongest months of the year for jobs. “Regional employment is still down about 2.6% from pre-COVID-19 levels,” Goss says. “The U.S. employment is likewise down by about 2.6% from pre-pandemic levels and all nine states are recording employment levels below pre-pandemic levels.”

In the latest figures from Iowa Workforce Development, the state’s unemployment rate fell during November to three-point-seven percent from three-point-nine percent in October. The Creighton survey’s wholesale inflation gauge for December dropped, but Goss says inflation in Iowa and the region remains at its highest levels in more than a quarter of a century of conducting the survey. Looking forward, Goss says several key challenges are emerging. “Economic growth will slow with employment gains slowing for the first quarter,” Goss says. “Short-term interest rates will begin rising and pretty quickly, I think. Supply chain bottlenecks and labor shortages and inflation will be the chief economic impediments in the first half of 2022.”

Since the start of the pandemic, Goss says Iowa’s average hourly wages advanced by only eight-tenths of one-percent.

(Mt. Ayr, Iowa) – The drivers of two vehicles that collided Monday morning in Ringgold County were transported to the hospital following the crash that took place west of Mount Ayr. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2012 Buick Enclave driven by 40-year-old Alemu Enguday Temesgen, of St. Joseph, Mo., was traveling north on Ringgold County Road P27, when the SUV ran a stop sign at the intersection with Highway 2.

The SUV struck a 2005 Dodge van on its passenger side, as the van was traveling east on Highway 2. The driver, 18-year-old William Allen O’Conner, of Clearfield, was transported by Ringgold County EMS to the hospital in Mt. Ayr. Temesgen was flown by Life Flight helicopter to a hospital in Kansas City.

The crash happened at around 8:27-a.m.

The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest on Monday afternoon of 24-year-old Christopher Floyd Birdtail of Red Oak on a charge of Domestic Assault while Displaying a Dangerous Weapon. Birdtail was arrested at 1:20 p.m. at 2400 N 8th Street in Red Oak and taken to the Montgomery County Jail. He was held on no bond until seen by a Magistrate.