Leading Economic Indicator Increases in December

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) increased by 0.78% in December 2013. This increase reverses a decline during the previous month. “The increase in the value of the LEI-N in December suggests that economic growth in Nebraska may accelerate during the summer of 2014. However, economic growth in the first half of 2014 is expected to be modest,” 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. According to Thompson, “building permits for single-family homes, airline passenger counts, and manufacturing hours rose during November.“

“Business expectations also rose during December. Respondents to the Survey of Nebraska Businesses projected an increase in employment over the next six months," Thompson said.