May 17, 2012

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Survey: Midwest economy defies national trend and improves

May 1, 2012 By

Dr. Ernie Goss, Creighton University

A monthly survey finds Nebraska’s economy is continuing to strengthen along with that of the entire Midwest region, bucking the national downward trend.

Ernie Goss, an economist at Creighton University, says the Midwest is seeing job growth and solid exports with cooling inflation, making for very favorable conditions.

“This is very surprising,” Goss says. “Our survey of supply managers in nine states, stretching from North Dakota and Minnesota in the north to Oklahoma and Arkansas in the south, the leading economic indicator from that survey for April was up and that’s contrary to almost everything else we’re seeing coming across for the nation.”

Fuel prices have dropped and input costs are projected to only rise about two-percent for the rest of the year. Goss says those are two more factors in Nebraska’s favor and for the Midwest.

“Our number is the bright one out there and a lot of that can be traced to a healthy agricultural sector and housing,” Goss says. “Construction and housing are not as negative in this part of the country.”

The survey also finds employment growth in the Midwest region is accelerating, with some of the best gains since the recession ended. Goss says it’s in stark contrast to most other regional and national surveys that point to slower growth ahead.

Goss says, “You take every state among the nine states, all of them are showing much better growth looking ahead than what we’re seeing coming out of the national economy.”

Firms in Nebraska are reporting much slower but positive growth, Goss says, with less new hiring and little change in the average hourly work week. Still, he says, durable goods manufacturers, like metal producers, continue to expand in Nebraska. He expects Nebraska’s growth to slow but remain positive in the months ahead.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Economy, News

NU softball drops finale at Iowa

April 16, 2012 By

After splitting a double header on Saturday, the Nebraska softball team let the series finale slip away, losing 6-4 on Sunday. NU rallied from down four, but two errors led to five unearned runs in the loss that dropped the Huskers record to 26-16 overall and 8-4 in conference play.  The Huskers did not have a hit through the first four innings, but strung together four hits in a four-run fourth inning to tie the game.

After tying the game 4-4, pitcher Taylor Edwards walked the leadoff batter in the bottom of the fifth and then hit the next batter. Ashley Hagemann came on in relief and retired the side, but things went bad in the sixth. After retiring two of the first three hitters, a two-out error and a two-out, RBI single gave Iowa a 6-4 lead.

Filed Under: Business, Sports Tagged With: , ,

Delta to close Sioux City reservation center, 180 jobs lost in metro

April 13, 2012 By

Delta Airlines is announcing plans to close its Sioux City, Iowa, reservation center as part of a corporate restructuring, impacting nearly 200 workers from both sides of the Missouri River.

Sioux City Economic Development Director Marty Dougherty says he’s disappointed with the airline’s decision to shut down the center on August 31st because it’s been the top performer among the company’s 17 centers.

“They have an excellent facility, they have an excellent group of employees here that have been always commended and recognized in the Delta system and previously in the Northwest system,” Dougherty says. “They just won that award this past year, in the whole system.”

There are around 180 employees at the center and Delta is offering them an option to transfer to other cities or take a severance package. Dougherty says there may be another option available for those employees.

“There is what we’ll describe as a third-party company interested in the space — it’s just potential at this time — and they’d be interested actually in also offering positions to the people that are here because they recognize the quality of the workforce that’s here,” Dougherty says.

The Sioux City Delta center is one of four that are being shut down, with the others in Seattle, Tokyo and Bangkok.

Dougherty says the airline’s decision is unrelated to the city changing air service from Delta to American Eagle. Delta has five years remaining on its building lease.

Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City

Filed Under: Business, News, Transportation

Governor signs reduced tax-cut package, three eco-devo bills (AUDIO)

April 10, 2012 By

Gov. Heineman signs LB 970 into law. (Left to right: Senators Cornett, Nelson and Brasch)/Photo courtesy Jen Rae Hein, Governor's office

Gov. Dave Heineman today signed into law his scaled-down tax cut package as well as three bills providing tax breaks intended to spur economic development.

“These four bills are important to our continued efforts to keep Nebraska competitive for jobs and decreasing the tax burden on Middle Class Nebraskans,” Heineman stated during a bill-signing ceremony in his office at the Capitol.

Heineman originally proposed to reduce personal and corporate income taxes as well as eliminate the inheritance tax, costing a total of $326 million over three years. The legislature, under pressure from county officials, rejected the call to eliminate the inheritance tax. It also declined to reduce either the corporate income tax or the taxes paid by Nebraska residents who earn the most money. The final package approved by the legislature totaled $97 million over three years, a sum both Heineman and LB 970 sponsor, Sen. Abbie Cornett of Bellevue called a down payment on future tax reduction.

During the news conference, Heineman blamed the difficulty in passing his tax cut proposal on the “aggressive opposition” of the teacher’s union, Nebraska Appleseed, AARP, Open Sky Institute, The Nebraska Hospital Association the Nebraska Democratic Party.

The governor stated he will pursue further tax cuts in the future.

“I’m not done with tax relief. I’ve still got a couple of years left. If there’s any way to continue to reduce the tax burden on Nebraskans then I’m going to try to do it,” Heineman said.

County officials lobbied the legislature hard against eliminating the inheritance tax, which the counties collect. The officials stated the money was needed to sustain their budgets and its elimination would force them to either drastically cut services or raise other taxes.

The governor has largely dismissed the argument and has pressed the issue. Heineman points out 42 other states have eliminated the inheritance tax and Nebraska is at a disadvantage, because it still has the tax. Still, Heineman says he’s willing to work with counties toward its eventual elimination.

“I understand that issue, OK, but we all talk about it in the state of Nebraska: control your expenses, reduce the growth of local or state spending. That’s what they need to do at the county level,” according to Heineman. “And, again, if we have to phase it out over several years, I’m willing to try that, but I’m not going to give up.”

In addition to the tax cut package, the governor signed three other bills aimed at spurring economic development. LB 830 would extend the state agricultural tax exemptions to the bio-chip industry. LB 872 reduces the corporate income tax on Nebraska businesses selling services out of state. LB 1080 provides tax breaks for data centers.

The governor announced that Yahoo plans to take advantage of the tax break and expand its data facility in LaVista.

AUDIO: Gov. Heineman holds news conference to sign tax cut, economic development bills [8:20]

Filed Under: Business, Featured Stories, Legislature & Government, News

Nebraska ag delegates prepare to return from South Korean trade trip

April 5, 2012 By

Nebraska agricultural leaders will soon wrap up a trade visit to South Korea that has featured meetings with grain and meat industry representatives and tours of processing facilities.

Among the Nebraska producers, Scott Spilker of Beatrice is part of the delegation that’s overseas this week.

Spilker says he’s impressed with the strong South Korean economy, now the world’s 13th largest and the country has recently reached the trillion-dollar trade club.

Spilker, who is representing the Nebraska Pork Producers on the trip, says pork is very popular in South Korea.

He says there’s a fair amount of potential for a growing pork market there. He says about 60% of South Koreans’ diet is seafood but pork runs second at around 20% while beef and poultry are each at around 10%.

Spilker says food safety has become an important issue in the South Korean market following a health problem.

“Their industry was devastated with foot and mouth disease in the last couple of years and they’ve really had to rely on foreign markets even more,” he says, “but their domestic production is now coming back.”

Spilker says the free trade agreements that were approved last fall have helped build the market between the U-S and South Korea.

“It’s positive on both sides,” he says. “Trade improves relations between the countries and allows us to be on an equal playing field.”

Spilker says it’s exciting to see U-S pork in the supermarkets in South Korea and he feels there is a lot of potential in the future for additional U-S pork to be imported.

Nebraska Department of Agriculture director Greg Ibach has been leading the group this week on the trade visit.

By Dave Niedfeldt, KWBE, Beatrice

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Economy, Featured Stories, News
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