(Radio Iowa) – A survey of working-age Iowans shows job opportunities remain the number one reason people leave the state. Dustin Miller, executive director of the Iowa Chamber Alliance, says that’s concerning. “Obviously there are low, medium and high skilled jobs available in every single community,” Miller says. “…What is missing from an educational standpoint of letting people know that there are not only opportunities locally, but there are also opportunities within the state?”

This is the third year the Iowa Chamber Alliance has paid for a poll of 12-hundred Iowans between the ages of 18 and 65. The group’s “Iowa Talent Poll” finds higher salaries elsewhere are a draw, particularly for workers born after 1980. “We see some questions about or perceptions about wage discrepancy,” Miller says.

The Iowa residents who were polled like Iowa’s outdoor recreation options and friendliness, but cost of living remain the number one priority for Millennials and Generation Z. Those generations are now the majority of the country’s working age population.