King Banaian, economics professor and co-author of the St. Cloud Area Quarterly Business Report.
Thanks to solid employment numbers and positive business community sentiment, St. Cloud State economists King Banaian and Rich MacDonald are upbeat about the local economy.
“The concerns over the direction of the economy we had earlier in this year have now lessened considerably,” reads the latest St. Cloud Area Quarter Business Report (QBR), published June 12 in the St. Cloud Times.
Banaian, economics professor and dean of the School of Public Affairs, will present the QBR findings 7:30 a.m. June 16 in Sauk Rapids. He handles the report’s data analysis. Survey work is managed by MacDonald, an associate economics professor.
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The report’s survey of 57 area businesses forecasts stable or improving business conditions six months from now, including:
- Business activity
- Wages and benefits
- Capital expenditures
- Prices received for products
- Number of employees
Employment numbers suggest economic growth:
- Year-over-year, 1,600 more people were added to payrolls in April 2016
- Overall employment rose 1.5 percent in the 12-months ending April 30
- Local unemployment rate of 3.7 percent is unchanged from a year ago
Rich MacDonald, associate economics professor and co-author of the St. Cloud Area Quarterly Business Report.
Central Minnesota’s definitive, survey-supported analysis of economic activity is published by the School of Public Affairs Research Institute, Times Media and the Greater St. Cloud Development Corp.
The QBR has been published four times a year since January 1999.
