Nebraska economic indicator rises on strong business expectations

            The Leading Economic Indicator for Nebraska grew modestly in February, rising by 0.16 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.

            The Leading Economic Indicator for Nebraska is produced by faculty and students in the Department of Economics and Bureau of Business Research within the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Business Administration.

            The Leading Economic Indicator for Nebraska is a composite of six components that predict future economic growth: 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.

            "Strong growth in business expectations led to the rise," said UNL economist Eric Thompson, director of the Bureau of Business Research. "Respondents to the Survey of Nebraska Business predicted solid increases in sales and employment in their businesses over the next six months."

            Looking over the rest of the year, Thompson said that recent values for the Leading Economic Indicator for Nebraska show that the Nebraska economy should grow solidly during 2013 as a whole but that growth will be slow in the middle of the year.

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