Monday, March 01, 2010

One eye on work, other on budget 

I'm going to be busy with two talks this week, including the annual Winter Institute Economic Outlook presentation. The new Quarterly Business Report goes to the editor this week too. Posting will be light. However, I am watching carefully the budget forecast due out tomorrow. State economist Tom Stinson is quoted in this morning's paper:

State economist Tom Stinson warns, however, that the state is still losing jobs. The Twin Cities and St. Cloud experienced the worst job losses, while Rochester and southwestern Minnesota have fared better, he said.

Since the recession began, the state has lost 45,000 manufacturing jobs and 25 percent of construction employment.

"If you look at manufacturing and construction, you see some pretty dismal situations," Stinson said.

The state will begin adding jobs by March or April, he said.

So why St. Cloud? That's the subject of my talks this week. I'll have some notes posted over the next week or so on this question, so please stop back., but a fuller talk on this will have to wait until the St. Cloud MSA gets released in the 2007 Economic Census of Manufacturing, which is on rolling release through May -- Minnesota data is not yet up as of last night.

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