Is there a way to find out the real status of the US rural economy? Ernie Goss, a professor of economics at Creighton University, says “ask the bankers.”
In an Associated Press story, Goss reveals a survey of bank presidents and chief executives from nine US states: Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Illinois and North Dakota.
The analysis?
- Rural economies are improving, but a labor shortage is restraining growth.
- Retail sales remained weak in October, as large retailers in trade centers pulled customers from a wide area, the report said.
- The index for loan volume in the rural areas dropped significantly, to 58.8 from September’s 76.9.
- The home sales index in the nine states rose slightly from 35.5 in September to 36.4, the survey found.
- Bankers in all states except Kansas reported October job gains, but nearly 79 percent of bankers said a lack of labor is having a negative impact on rural business growth.
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Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
Becky, It is interesting that AP finds the one piece of information in that report that could possibly be seen as negative and puts it in both the opening and closing sentence of the story.
And rather than saying that things are so good that the economy is growing at near maximum capacity they say that a labor “shortage” is “restraining” growth.
Talk about spinning good news to make it seem like it is bad news! Do you think there might be an agenda there? Hmmm…
Chris, thanks for commenting!
I think you and I are standing on opposite sides of the chart, just like the cartoon. To me, there is more than one piece “that could possibly be seen as negative.”
Retail sales: WEAK.
Loan volume: DOWN SIGNIFICANTLY.
Also, lack of labor was cited by not just a few, but 79% of the bankers. In my mind, lack of (skilled) labor is a huge and persistant issue in the rural areas.
So, overall, I wouldn’t choose this article to try to support arguments on media spin and agendas.
By the way, Chris your series on Success Principles is terrific! Highly recommended!