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Published on Friday, March 28, 2008 Gazette Opinion: Local bright spots in economic
news
The Billings area economy is doing well even as
the national economy slips toward a recession.Unemployment remains low here with workers in high demand all across the city. Construction is continuing at a brisk pace. The local housing market isn't in meltdown, because it never overheated on subprime loans. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight recently reported that Montana (6.9 percent) and Wyoming (8.3 percent) were among only five states where housing prices appreciated more than 5 percent last year. Early indications are that tourism, which was strong last year in the region, will have another good year. As The Gazette reported recently, the Billings Convention and Visitors Bureau has been seeing more people at the visitor center than usual for this time of year. Travel Montana reported that bookings are up for the state's tourism businesses. And hotel reservations inside Yellowstone National Park also are running ahead of last year, which was the biggest year to date. Earlier this month, fiscal analyst Terry Johnson reported to the Legislative Finance Committee that Montana's individual income tax collections are up for the first eight months of the fiscal year and exceed estimates while corporate collections are down, the latter due in part to fewer audits and larger tax refunds in the first eight months of the fiscal year. Through the end of February, Montana individual income taxes generated $514 million for the general fund, a 10.27 percent increase over the same period in fiscal 2007. Sales tax on lodging generated $7.53 million, a 12.17 increase. In the same period, oil severance tax generated $29.4 million, a 15.5 percent increase. State oil revenues are up because oil prices have been increasing while Montana production remained relatively steady in 2007 after peaking in 2006, according to the Montana Board of Oil and Gas. Meanwhile, the Montana Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that 14,900 nonfarm jobs were created in the state during 2007 with the rate of new job creation increasing steadily throughout the year. A lot of that growth is related to the construction industry, which now is slowing. Another indication of Montana's economic vitality arrived this week when the U.S. Commerce Department released data on personal income growth for 2007. Montana ranked 15th among the states with income growth of 6.6 percent outpacing the national average of 6.2 percent. Yes, Billings and the rest of Montana will feel effects of a nationwide economic downturn, but the impact here may be less drastic. As Larry Swanson, an economist and director of the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West, told The Gazette this week: "We don't grow the soonest and the fastest, ordinarily, so we don't see the soonest and biggest fall-offs in income when the national economy slows, but we ultimately are affected by this slowdown, as are all areas." The Billings area looks like as good a place as any to ride out a national recession. Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. |
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