• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

PRESSLED

Your Leading News Source

PRESSLED
Your Leading News Source

  • Home
  • BUSINESS
  • MONEY
  • POLITICS
  • REAL ESTATE
  • US
  • Meet the Reporters
  • About/Contact

State’s economy improving, but problems remain | News

May 23, 2021 by Staff Reporter

Kentucky’s economy is rebounding from the coronavirus pandemic, a new report from the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and the University of Kentucky Center for Business and Economic Research shows.

But there are still clouds in the economic skies.

The report — “Kentucky’s Economic Recovery: A Quarterly Update of Workforce, Employment, State GDP, and Exports” — says, “While all major indicators suggest the Commonwealth’s economy is healing, they also show Kentucky’s economy is still operating below pre-pandemic levels while employers struggle to fill open positions across the state.”

The state’s unemployment rate for the quarter — 5% — was a full point lower than the national rate of 6% in March, it says.

But, the bad news is that the “unemployment rate appears low largely because the state has more workers sitting out of the labor force. Kentucky’s labor force participation rate remained well below pre-pandemic levels in March and has increased only slightly over the past few months,” the report said.

It said, “Kentucky’s participation rate is typically lower than the nation’s rate, but the pandemic widened the gap. In 2019, Kentucky’s rate was 3.9 percentage points lower on average than the U.S. rate. In March, the gap was 4.8 percentage points.”

The study said that suggests that a larger share of workers who lost jobs during the recession are not looking for work here compared to the rest of the nation.

“These individuals might not be looking for work for several reasons including lack of child-care, health and safety concerns, and enhanced unemployment insurance benefits,” it said. “If these individuals were counted in the unemployment numbers, Kentucky’s unemployment rate might be similar to the nation’s rate.”

But the study found that employers added 19,200 jobs between December and March.

“With these additional jobs, Kentucky had recovered 67% of the jobs lost during the pandemic,” it said.

“However, Kentucky’s nonfarm employment was still down 4.9% compared to January 2020,” the study said. “This was slightly better than surrounding states and the nation, which were down 5.1% and 5.3% respectively since January 2020.”

“Things are looking much different today,” Ashli Watts, state chamber president, said in the report. “Almost 2 million Kentuckians have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, restrictions are being phased out and our positivity rate is down to just above 3%.”

U.S., Europe trade talks good news for Kentucky bourbon

She said, “This is welcome news for all Kentuckians as we continue the hard work of getting life back to ‘normal’ and rebuilding our economy. Workforce will be critical not only to our economic recovery, but also to the Commonwealth’s competitiveness in the post-pandemic economy.”

Michael W. Clark, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky, said, “Kentucky’s gross domestic product increased, more Kentucky workers were employed, and fewer workers were unemployed.”

He said, “While all major indicators suggest the Commonwealth’s economy is healing, they also show that Kentucky’s economy is still operating below pre-pandemic levels. This is reflected in Kentucky’s low labor force participation rate, which fell further behind the rates for the nation and the average of surrounding states during the pandemic.”

The report says that there were still 104,000 fewer Kentucky residents employed in March 2021 than in January 2020.

It said that employment in Kentucky’s financial activities, professional and business services, and information sectors have all been growing at a faster rate than surrounding states and the U.S.

But employment in leisure and hospitality was still down 19% from January 2020.

That means that approximately 39,100 jobs have been lost in that sector.

The report said that active real estate listings for April 2021 were down 57% from April 2020.

Houses were on the market for a median of 44 days in April — 28 fewer days than in April of 2020.

And prices of those sales were up 3.5% from a year earlier.

The report added that permits for single family homes were up 28% from the first quarter of 2020.

Originally Appeared Here

Filed Under: BUSINESS

Primary Sidebar

More to See

Former Georgia Tech Kicker Harrison Butker Sends Kansas City To The Super Bowl

Harrison Butker is going to be playing for another Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs.Butker nailed the game-winning field goal to send the Chiefs … [Read More...] about Former Georgia Tech Kicker Harrison Butker Sends Kansas City To The Super Bowl

Stock Market Opening News Today

Sensex, Nifty Open: आज अडानी ग्रुप शेयरों में बिकवाली जारी है. वहीं बैंक और फाइनेंशियल सेक्‍टर के हैवीवेट शेयरों ने भी बाजार को कमजोर किया है. Sensex, … [Read More...] about Stock Market Opening News Today

Henry Bott Now President of Swire Properties US

One of Hong Kong’s best known conglomerates leads this week’s set of personnel updates on Mingtiandi as Hong Kong’s John Swire and Sons announces new … [Read More...] about Henry Bott Now President of Swire Properties US

Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | About/ Contact
Copyright © 2023 · PRESSLED · As Amazon Associates we earn commissions from qualifying purchases · Log in

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT