Lily Jones, The Herald Bulletin
November 13, 2024
ANDERSON — Although fears of a recession have largely subsided, expected employment flucuation and only moderate inflation decreases could impact the local economy, a panel of experts said Tuesday.
Four panelists participated in “Futurecast: 2025 Economic Outlook,” a discussion hosted by Anderson Rotary Club and designed to provide insights into the economic environment locally, nationally and globally.
Slow but steady growth in overall employment will headline trends nationally and at the state level, said Mark Frohlich, an associate professor of operations in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.
He expects employment stability to contribute to a slight increase in the nation’s overall gross domestic product, a measure of “the total market value of final goods and services produced within the United States,” according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
“Employment will continue to grow,” Frohlich said during the discussion. “It will probably (increase) about 1% for the nation. Indiana, next year, employment will grow too, but it will be a little less. It is predicted to be about 0.9%. Slow but steady employment growth.”
Locally, health care services and manufacturing help drive Madison County’s economic engine, noted Jongdoo Lee, an assistant professor of finance at Anderson University. Combined with the retail, food services and education sectors, those industries make up around 65% of the jobs in the county, he noted.
“When we look at year-to-year, from the first quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024, there was significant job growth in the finance and health care industries with 10.1% and 6.4%, respectively,” Lee said.
Of concern, Lee mentioned that real estate and rental and leasing saw negative job growth rates of 12% across that same period. Average weekly wages, he said, have increased across most industries.
Rob Sparks, executive director of the Corporation for Economic Development in Madison County, mentioned water issues in Indiana as longer-term barometers that could provide clues to companies’ expansion plans. He also said partnerships with local school districts are “creating the pipeline for that economic driver for the next two decades.”
“The fact is, the (Indianapolis) metro area has got a problem with water that is going to have to be solved,” Sparks said. “Having the utilities for today and in the future is going to be greatly important for economic development and the growth of the county.”
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