Bureau of Business Research
Date of this Version
2014
Document Type
Article
Citation
Prepared By The UNL Bureau Of Business Research, Volume 6 No 2, 3rd Quarter 2014
Abstract
The Quarterly Business Indicators for the 3rd quarter of 2014 continue to show a surging Lincoln economy. Most segments of the Lincoln MSA economy are growing, and many are growing rapidly.
The Lincoln MSA unemployment rate continues to decline (Figure 1) and remains half of the U.S. rate (Figure 2). Employment growth is strong. Non-farm employment, which is measured via a survey of business, grew by 2.6% in the Lincoln MSA between the 3rd quarter of 2013 and 2014 (Figure 4).
Among individual industries, construction, manufacturing, other financial services (primarily banking), health care and education, and state government employment all grew rapidly in the Lincoln MSA over the last year (Table 1).
Taxable sales rose solidly in the Lincoln MSA between the 3rd quarter of 2013 and 2014 (Figures 9 and 10 and Table 1). Motor vehicle sales in particular grew rapidly. Building permits also rose very rapidly in Lincoln (Figure 6) due to a large number of permits for multi-family structures issued in July and August.
There were, however, weak spots in the Lincoln economy. Insurance employment declined (Table 1) and job growth in the high-wage professional, scientific and technical services lagged national growth. Average weekly work hours fell in the Lincoln MSA over the last year while changing little at the national level (Figure 8). Enplanements at the Lincoln Airport also decline between the 3rd quarter of 2013 and 2014 (Table 1).
Comments
Copyright 2014 University of Nebraska-Lincoln