Advanced Industry Clusters Fueling Growth

Economic growth in the Midwest was steady in 2014, thanks to solid performances by the agriculture and manufacturing sectors, especially transportation equipment. The economy also got a boost from the surging energy sector, led by oil-shale production in Ohio, which improved sales for supporting industries like sand, chemicals, and steel drill pipe made in Midwestern steel plants. 

Alternative energy is also driving some Midwestern economies — for example, Iowa remains one of the top states in the nation in renewable energy, with more than 27 percent of the state’s energy coming from wind. This has compelled companies like Facebook and Google to locate data centers within the state, which are powered fully or in part by renewable wind power. In addition to the $1.5 billion investment from Google and $300 million from Facebook, Microsoft plans to build a $1.1 billion data center in West Des Moines.

Steady Economic Growth 
This overall economic steadiness across the Midwest has continued into 2014. According to Creighton University’s MidAmerica Business Conditions Index for June 2014, the Midwest economy continued to grow. “Growth among durable goods manufacturers in the region is pushing overall employment higher,” says Ernie Goss, director of Creighton University’s Economic Forecasting Group. “Regional job growth for the first half of 2014 was running at an annual rate of 1.5 percent, well ahead of the growth experienced for the same period in 2013. This pace should remain strong for the second half of 2014.” 

As a result, hiring is up. The Midwest had a 5.6 percent unemployment rate in May 2014, considerably less than the national rate of 6.3 percent. September 2014 numbers include Minnesota (4.1 percent in September — fifth-lowest in the country), 5.5 percent in Wisconsin, and 6.3 percent in Missouri. Illinois’s unemployment rate hit a new six-year low in August at 6.7 percent, the lowest rate since 2008 and the continuation of an uninterrupted drop in the state jobless rate that began in late 2013. (full article...)

By Mark Crawford, Area Development