Employment numbers continue to rise in the nine Midwest and Plains states, Kansas included. The business conditions index for the region rose to 63.2 in February from 58.9 in January. Any score above 50 suggests that the economy will continue to grow for the next three to six months, the economists who do the study each month have found.
In addition to Kansas, the states in the survey are Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota and Oklahoma.
This bare-bones citation of facts and numbers is typical for the university-based economic survey for our region. No exclamation marks; no hurrahs; just the facts, ma’am.
And the facts are that a 4.3 point gain in the index over a month — and an ugh! month at that — is worth a whoopee or maybe a wow.
More jobs are being created in the nation’s breadbasket. Commodity prices are high and stable. Farmland values continue to rise. Tax revenues are rising. Consumer purchases are strong.
Feel good about tomorrow. Tell your children a bright future beckons. Walk with a swagger. Smile.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
