There’s one thing Gov. Terry Branstad and former Gov. Chet Culver agree on “how Iowa’s economy continues to grow.”

The Iowa Department of Economic Development recently announced that more than 230 jobs have been planned or proposed for the Iowa as a result of awards from the department.

“Today’s awards represent hundreds of new, well-paying jobs in communities across Iowa,” Branstad said.

The Iowa Economic Development Board approved projects and proposals for proposals in Muscatine, Cedar Rapids, Johnston, Des Moines, Story City, Sioux City, Lamoni, Corydon, Indianola and Ames.

“These awards help illustrate Iowa’s commitment to attracting innovative companies to the state,” Branstad said.

Culver told Iowans in his final Condition of the State address Jan. 11 that Iowa is “leading the nation out of the recession.”

Among the companies planning to settle in Iowa or expand their existing locations are technology provider Hewlett-Packard in Des Moines; Pioneer in Johnston; Bridgestone Bandag, a leading commercial retreading system franchise of Muscatine; Divine Engineering of Cedar Rapids; Rasmussen Mechanical Services of Sioux City; Valley of the Moon Commercial Poults Inc., looking to start a commercial turkey egg hatchery in Lamoni; and TS Investments, developer of the software program Floorgraph, in Indianola.  

For Ames, M&S FlowMatics received $70,000 from the Demonstration Fund to manufacture additional prototypes of a flow meter, which was originally developed by the Seed Science Center at Iowa State.

Additionally, that same fund gave $50,000 to C2 Development of Ames to support its efforts to design, develop and manufacture LED application products.

Culver said that along with this great growth of jobs, 13 of Iowa’s 19 largest businesses reported double-digit stock gains last year. Iowa is the only state to have 14 consecutive months of continued economic growth.