Nebraska economic indicator is steady in Sept., moderate growth expected

Released on 10/19/2012, at 2:00 AM
Office of University Communications
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Lincoln, Neb., October 19th, 2012 —

            The Leading Economic Indicator for Nebraska was largely unchanged in September, rising by just .09 percent. The slight increase followed two months of solid growth in the indicator in July and August, and indicates that Nebraska's economy will grow at a moderate pace in the final month of 2012 and the first few months of 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 outlook was mixed in September," said University of Nebraska-Lincoln economist Eric Thompson, director of the Bureau of Business Research. "Two components improved, including a solid increase in single-family building permits during the month. However, four components declined -- including manufacturing hours, airline passenger counts and business expectations. There was also a slight uptick in unemployment claims."

            By comparison to September's figures, the state's leading economic indicator increased by 1.16 percent in July and 0.88 percent in August.

            Looking at the rest of the year, Thompson said that recent values for the Leading Economic Indicator for Nebraska suggest the state's economy will grow slowly through November but accelerate to reach a moderate pace of growth in December.

            "The Nebraska economy is working through a rough patch, but sustained growth is expected to return in just a few months," Thompson said.

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

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