BBR Announces Slight Decline in Leading Economic Indicator - Nebraska Report

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) declined modestly in November 2012, dropping by 0.18%. This modest decline, however, followed four months of solid growth in LEI-N from July through October. The November data is insufficient to reverse the growth trend of the previous four months. The Nebraska economy therefore is expected to grow at a moderate pace in December and in the first half of 2013.

The LEI-N is a composite of six components which 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.“ Single family building permits rose sharply in November and has been a bright spot in the Nebraska economy during much of 2012,” said University of Nebraska-Lincoln economist Eric Thompson, director of the Bureau of Business Research. “However, the remaining five components declined modestly during November.”

Looking over the rest of the year, Thompson said that recent values for the Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska signal that “the Nebraska economy should grow consistently over the next 6 months.“

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska is produced by faculty and students in the Department of Economics and Bureau of Business Research within the UNL College of Business Administration.