TOPEKA, Kan.- -Kansas business conditions dropped slightly to 51 in May, down from 51.5 in April, according to the monthly Business Conditions Index compiled by Creighton University.
The index is the average of individual scores measuring new orders, production or sales, delivery lead time, employment, and inventories.
“The overall index, much like the U.S. reading, has vacillated around growth neutral since December of 2023. Additionally, supply managers remained pessimistic regarding the 2023 outlook with approximately 42% expecting slower economic growth for the remainder of 2024,” said Ernie Goss, director of Creighton University’s Economic Forecasting Group.
Kansas Individual Highlights
Components from the monthly survey have new orders at 47.9, production or sales at 42.2, delivery lead time at 52.5, and employment at 47.0.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest statistics show that Kansas has experienced an hourly job gain of 0.5% and an hourly wage gain of 2.2% over the past year.
Employment
Kansas is one of six states in the survey that has seen hourly job gains along with Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Oklahoma. While the three remaining states of Arkansas, Minnesota, and South Dakota have all experienced job losses.
All states in the survey have experienced hourly wage gains, except for North Dakota, which has seen a decrease of 1.7%. Missouri leads the nine states with a spike of 10.0% in wage increases this past month.
Employment within the findings has been under 50.0 for the past five months, however, the May index shows that overall regional employment has increased by 3.7% from April.
Trade
The regional May Business Conditions Index shows that exports were below growth neutral for the month but up to 46.7 in May from 42.9 in April. The regional economy slowed from 47.7 in April, to 41.2 in May. New orders, production, and speed of deliveries all plummeted in the region in May. The decrease shows a reduction in the supply chain distributions and indicate delivery bottlenecks.
The MidAmerica Region monthly surveys conducted by the Creighton Economic Forecasting group include Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Missouri.
