Nebraska economic indicator improves in August - second month in a row

The Leading Economic Indicator for Nebraska increased by 1.19 percent in August, and after two consecutive monthly increases, University of Nebraska-Lincoln economists predict a moderate pace of growth at the end of 2012 and into early 2013.

“An increase in airline passenger counts and building permits, a falling U.S. dollar and improved business expectations each contributed to the improvement in the LEI-N in August,” said University of Nebraska-Lincoln economist Eric Thompson, director of the Bureau of Business Research and lead author of the indicators report.

Thompson said, however, that a moderate increase in initial unemployment claims and a slight decline in manufacturing hours provide a note of caution about the outlook for the Nebraska economy.

“Looking over the rest of the year, we expect the Nebraska economy to grow anemically through November (2012) but accelerate to reach a moderate pace of growth in December and early 2013.”

The Leading Economic Indicator for Nebraska, produced by the Department of Economics and Bureau of Business Research in the UNL College of Business Administration, is a composite of six components that predict future economic growth. They are single-family building permits, airline passenger counts, initial unemployment claims, manufacturing hours, the value of the U.S. dollar and business expectations gathered from the Survey of Nebraska Business.

The full Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators report and a Technical Report describing the indicators are available at the UNL College of Business Administration website, http://www.cba.unl.edu.

- Kelly Bartling