Economic Growth Still on Tap for Early 2014

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) decreased by 0.08% in October 2013. This slight decline followed two months of solid growth in the LEI-N in August and September.

“Improvement in the LEI-N over the last three months suggests moderate growth in the Nebraska economy in early 2014,” said University of Nebraska-Lincoln economist Eric Thompson, director of the Bureau of Business Research. 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.

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska 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.

"Two indictor components expanded during October, including the number of single-family building permits.“ Thompson said. “There was a decline in business expectations during October. This was caused in part by a sharp drop in crop prices but the federal government shutdown also may have been a factor. Many of the respondents to the Survey of Nebraska Business completed the survey questionnaire during the shutdown.”