Those having keen interests in the U.S. manufacturing sector are somewhat encouraged by its performance over the past three years. The sector has bounced back sharply since the end of the severe 2008-09 recession. Job growth in manufacturing is running up 2 percent on a year-over-year basis, and the sector has recovered three-quarters of the output lost during the 2008-09 recession. Enc... Read More

Real gross state product (GSP) is the state analogue of real gross domestic product (GDP), which measures national economic activity.1 That is, real GSP is the most comprehensive measure of state economic activity. Although the release of other state economic indicators like employment figures are timelier, they exclude developments such as productivity enhancements and the application of... Read More

U.S. energy markets are undergoing significant upheaval because of the surging domestic production of natural gas and accompanying falling prices for this commodity. Enhanced production of natural gas has come about because of technological gains in gas extraction—namely, enhanced techniques for the fracturing of shale deposits and horizontal drilling. One of the main motivations for expl... Read More

A summary of economic conditions in the Seventh District from the latest release of the Beige Book and from other indicators of regional business activity: Overall conditions: Economic activity in the Seventh District continued to expand at a moderate pace in April and May. Consumer spending: Consumer spending incr... Read More

Many have highlighted the importance of increasing foreign purchases of goods produced in the United States as a path to economic growth. In 2009, President Obama called for a doubling of U.S. exports of goods and services within five years, accompanied by the announcement of a National Export Initiative. So far, this goal remains reachable. Since the economic recovery began in mid-2009, ... Read More

Continued improvement in U.S. light vehicle sales has been good news not only for the automotive industry, but also for the Seventh District. The chart below plots the percentage change in U.S. light vehicle sales against the percentage change in real gross state product for the District from 1991 through 2010. It should not come as any surprise that these two factors are very highly corr... Read More

Households in the region and nationwide have been affected by rising motor fuel prices in recent months; this follows an earlier spike that took place in 2007-08. Such price spikes ordinarily pinch household incomes and spending on non-fuel items. However, at the same time, natural gas prices have been trending downward, thereby providing some relief to household budgets. This is especial... Read More

During a recent visit and tour of Racine, Wisconsin, and vicinity, I was reminded of the difficult challenges that face older manufacturing-oriented cities. It would be tough to find a place as steeped in manufacturing as the Racine area. As recently as 1969, over 40 percent of the Racine metropolitan area's jobs were to found in the sector—double the national level. Since then, the Racin... Read More

A summary of economic conditions in the Seventh District from the latest release of the Beige Book: Overall conditions:Economic activity in the Seventh District continued to expand at a moderate pace in late February and March. Consumer spending: Consumer spending increased significantly, as retailers reported unsea... Read More

This blog serves to expand on our December 2011 Chicago Fed Letter (CFL) by further detailing the estimation process used to produce estimates of annual Gross State Product (GSP) growth on a quarterly basis for the five Seventh Federal Reserve District states. In addition, we preview the estimates of GSP growth for 2011 that will be included as part of tomorrow's Midwest Economy Index (M... Read More