Bureau of Business Research
Date of this Version
2013
Document Type
Article
Citation
Prepared By The UNL Bureau Of Business Research, Volume 5 No 1, 2nd Quarter 2013
Abstract
The Quarterly Business Indicators for the 2nd quarter of 2013 show steady growth in the Lincoln, Nebraska economy. Growth rates in the Lincoln area are similar to growth rates nationwide.
The Lincoln MSA unemployment rate remains at year ago levels (Figure 1) but is still half of the U.S. rate (Figure 2). Lincoln is experiencing solid job growth and rapid growth in hours-worked and building permits. Non-farm employment grew by 1.4% in the Lincoln MSA between the 2nd quarter of 2012 and 2013, which is slightly below the 1.6% growth rate nationwide (Figure 4). Building permits were up 21.2% in Lincoln between the 2nd quarter of 2012 and 2013 (Figure 6). Average hours worked rose by a robust 1.9% in the Lincoln MSA over the last year (Figure 8).
Motor vehicle taxable sales rose sharply in the Lincoln MSA between the 2nd quarter of 2012 and 2013 (Figure 10, Table 1). However, other taxable sales were up only modestly in Lincoln (Figure 9, Table 1).
Among individual industries, manufacturing employment expanded between the 2nd quarter of 2012 and 2013 (Table 1), at twice the national rate. Insurance employment expanded, and growth was rapid in other financial services, which grew by 2.7%. Professional, scientific and technical employment grew in Lincoln, but at only half the national growth rate. There was solid growth in education and health care employment. Finally, given Nebraska’s relatively strong fiscal condition, state government employment expanded in Lincoln over the last year, while it continued to decline nationally.
Comments
Copyright 2013 University of Nebraska-Lincoln