Consumer Confidence Up in NW Arkansas? I hope so.

When I was out shopping before Christmas I encountered horrendous traffic near the malls and lots of people in the stores. My impression was that “consumer confidence” in NW Arkansas was back in force.

Now that some of the business reports are coming in, the numbers show my impression was correct. Basically my observations of are “anecdotal” evidence but I also pull data from local sources and the MLS. So when the economists trot out the statistics I look for those to validate my gut feelings and in this case they did just that.

As I have mentioned in the past, Americans are saving more than they did before the recession and that’s a good thing. But for a healthy economy, people need to spend money. Individuals don’t often realize the impact their personal spending habits have on the economy as a whole. But the truth is that consumer spending is a huge driving force on the economy and people need to spend money if the recovery is to gain momentum.

I’m happy that things are picking up at the retail level. It’s a positive sign of economic recovery. My hope is that the housing market responds in kind.

For more information:

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?zone=AB_DailyReport_Monday&lID=&sID=&ms=&cID=Z&aID=119367.54928.131493&page=2

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?zone=AB_DailyReport_Monday&lID=&sID=&ms=&cID=Z&aID=119366.54928.131492

More Good News for NW Arkansas

NW Arkansas was ranked 2nd best in the country on Forbes Magazine’s recent list of best and worst cities for recession recovery. Forbes projected Northwest Arkansas' gross domestic product to grow from $13.9 billion to $14.5 billion by 2010.

It’s always refreshing to see good news about our area and to know that prestigious organizations recognize the good things happening here.

Of course, this is not the first time for such recognition. NW Arkansas frequently receives excellent ratings in such areas as Best Places to Retire and Best Places to Raise a Family by Sperling’s and Kiplinger as well as Forbes.

Just a few weeks ago, Forbes ranked our area as 4th Best Place in the country for business and careers.

And we continue to add about 100 new jobs each month - admittedly fewer jobs than a couple of years ago but is still a positive figure by anyone’s standards.

Other news reports this week continued the encouraging news.

Arkansas surpassed all but six states in personal income growth in the first quarter. Only 11 states were able to report a rise in income. Average for the whole country was a negative ½ of 1%.

Arkansas had the largest drop of all states in initial unemployment claims for the week ending June 6, a decline of 1,206 claims compared with the previous week, the department said.

I’m not saying everything is rosy – we all know it could be better. But good news is good news and these days anything good is worth knowing.

For more information:

http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/09/recession-economy-cities-business-beltway-recovery-cities_slide_3.html

http://www.nwarktimes.com/adg/National/262305/

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?zone=AB_DailyReport_Thursday&lID=&sID=&ms=&cID=Z&aID=115496.54928.127622&page=2

http://www.nwarktimes.com:80/adg/News/262123