Nebraska economic indicator continues to improve in 2013

            The Leading Economic Indicator for Nebraska grew moderately in January, rising by 0.36 percent. This increase in the state indicator, which is designed to predict economic growth six months in the future, suggests that the Nebraska economy will grow at a moderate pace in mid-2013.

            Faculty and students in the Department of Economics and Bureau of Business Research within the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Business Administration produce the Leading Economic Indicator for Nebraska, which is released monthly.

            The indicator is a composite of six components that predict future economic growth: single-family building permits, airline passenger counts, initial unemployment claims, manufacturing hours, value of the U.S. dollar, and business expectations gathered from the Survey of Nebraska Business.

            "Strong growth in single-family home building permits was the main reason for the rise in the Leading Economic Indicator for Nebraska in January," said UNL economist Eric Thompson, director of the Bureau of Business Research.

            Looking over the rest of the year, Thompson said that recent values for the Leading Economic Indicator for Nebraska show that the state's economy should grow solidly during early 2013, but that growth moderates in the middle of the year.

            "This outlook is consistent with an expectation for moderate growth in the Nebraska economy for the year 2013 as a whole," Thompson said.

            A Feb. 8 report from the Nebraska Business Forecast Council also predicted moderate employment and income growth in Nebraska during 2013. That report is available at http://bbr.unl.edu.

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