NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Creighton University economist Ernie Goss said that the December update to his Business Conditions Index released Jan. 2 doesn't look good heading into 2025.
"The overall index is indicating negative growth right now for the manufacturing sector for the seventh time this year," Goss said. "It was not a good report. We had job losses throughout the region, and if you look at manufacturing in the nation, the nation has lost manufacturing jobs, the region has lost manufacturing jobs, Kansas has done a little bit better in terms of manufacturing, but still not good even for Kansas."
The weak spot in Kansas is in the employment measure, and there are multiple reasons for that.
"Even with the employment numbers down, there's still the inability to find and hire qualified workers," Goss said. "That was one of the big issues, at least reported by the supply managers, purchasing managers often thought of. Even with the employment numbers down, there's still that problem of finding and hiring qualified workers, particularly those on the higher skill levels. We're going to continue to see that throughout the region, and for that matter, throughout the nation."
Inflation is still higher than the Federal Reserve's target.
"If you look at the core, which excludes food and energy, that number's running above the three percentage points, and that's annualized. Now if you look at the headline number, that includes food and energy, a bit below 3 percent, and that's moving toward the Federal Reserve's target, but still above the Federal Reserve's target and moving higher."
The Federal Reserve target inflation rate is two percentage points annualized.