Unemployment down in Southeast Missouri

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Unemployment fell in Southeast Missouri during the 2011’s second quarter, as compared to the same time period last year, according to Southeast Missouri State University’s Center for Economic and Business Research.

The unemployment rate fell by half a percentage point from 9.6 to 9.1 percent.

Personal income is rebounding, following negative or stagnant rates of change during the recession, according to Southeast Missouri State’s Bruce Domazlicky.

"From our estimates, over the last couple of quarters, income growth is closer to 4, 4 and a half percent, which is about normal. So that’s looking a little bit better. And that’s to be expected with employment being up," Domazlicky said.

Cape Girardeau County’ unemployment ticked upward to 7.3 percent, which is still below the Southeast Missouri and national averages.

Perry County has the lowest unemployment rate in Southeast Missouri at 6.6 percent.

"I think part of it is they have a good industrial base, a good job base," Domazlicky said about Perry County. "They don’t have a real big labor force, and so I think there’s a pretty good balance between the number of jobs that are available and the people that want to work. That has generally kept the unemployment rate very low there."

Despite the modestly good numbers, Domazlicky cautions that Southeast Missouri is not immune to the national economic stagnation and will ultimately follow national trends.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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S & P downgrade could bring higher interest rate to SE Missouri

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Southeast Missouri State University economist Bruce Domazlicky thinks Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the U.S. debt may lead to higher interest rate in order to attract investors.

Domazlicky says this could reverberate to the southeast Missouri economy.

"Anybody who wants to borrow money for buying houses or cars or businesses or agriculture, it’s going to cost them more," Domazlicky said. "That would probably be the main effect locally. The question is when that might occur or how much it is going to occur. We just don’t know right now. But that is a possibility."

Domazlicky adds college students will also feel the affect of the downgrade by increased interest rates on student loans.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Economist predicts $93 million drop in total revenue for Mississippi County

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - A Southeast Missouri State University economist studied the impact of the Birds Point Levee breach on the Mississippi County economy.

Dr. Bruce Domazlicky says that the impact of flooding half of the county’s farmland will have the most direct impact through the loss of agriculture output from this land.

The indirect impact is the loss that agricultural suppliers will face. These include lost seed and other input sales.

There will also be an induced impact from the loss of farm wages.

"What we found is that employment in 2011, the current year, will decline by a little over 500. Which is quite significant. That’s about 9% of the total employment in Mississippi County," Domazlicky said. "The second thing we found is that labor income would fall by about 12 million dollars in the county, and that’s also about 9% of the total labor income in the county."

The total revenue in the county, Domazlicky says, will go down by about 93 million dollars. He says this figure is the result of less agricultural output, but it is also affected by the reduction in sales by input providers.

Domazlicky says that these figures translate to about 14 percent of total revenue for the county. The numbers account for the current year.

"What’s going to happen going forward with respect to whether or not those acres can be brought back into cultivation, will then determine how extensive those impacts are going to be in the future," Domazlicky explained.

Domazlicky says that government assistance programs will mitigate these numbers somewhat, but will not completely make up for the direct loss of revenue for the county.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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