A hackneyed but important fact is that consumer spending in the United States accounts for two-thirds of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This was true in the 1970s (66 percent), 1980s (67 percent), and 1990s (67 percent).
Download the NewsletterVolume: 12 - Number: 4
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Cost of Living
Authors:
Expect a few bumps on the road to economic recovery; they are not uncommon. In the early 1970s, a four-fold increase in world oil prices threw the U.S. economy into recession, delaying the recovery of the Puget Sound economy from the Boeing Bust.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 12 - Number: 3
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Economic Development
Authors:
At the risk of jumping the gun, we do not want to pass up an important milestone for the Puget Sound economy. Following a three-year retreat, regional employment moved up sharply at the beginning of the year, marking a welcome turning point in the current economic cycle.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 12 - Number: 2
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Labor Force
Authors:
Professor Neil Bruce of the University of Washington recently lectured on the economy's impact on the presidential election. Making use of the Fair Model, he predicted that President Bush would win in November with a 54 percent vote.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 12 - Number: 1
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: The Dollar
Authors:
Economic conditions in the Puget Sound region have been dismal for three years. As if on a steep slide with a long run-out, employment plunged from 1,735,000 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2000 to 1,658,300 in the second quarter of 2002 and then bumped along sideways to 1,656,400 in the third quarter of 2003.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 11 - Number: 4
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Regional Forecasting
Authors:
Despite the increasing diversity of the Puget Sound economy, it is still subject to the vagaries of Boeing. Were it not for back-to-back downturns in aircraft production and employment, the current recession would have been much less onerous.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 11 - Number: 3
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Location
Authors:
Mercifully, the Iraqi conflict came to a quick end. However, the anticipated post-war surge in the U.S. economy has yet to materialize. Consumer and investor confidence is rising, but many economic indicators, such as industrial production and employment, are falling.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 11 - Number: 2
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: NAICS
Authors:
Wars represent major chapters in our economic history. World War II helped the nation recover from the Great Depression. In the Puget Sound region, when thousands of men and women went to work manufacturing bombers and repairing war-damaged ships, the unemployment rate plummeted from 15 percent to 2 percent.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 11 - Number: 1
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: The Windermere Index
Authors:
The 4,000 additional layoffs announced by Boeing and Weyerhaeuser will deepen the recession and delay the recovery. Nevertheless, it appears that the worst may be over.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 10 - Number: 4
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: China
Authors:
If history is a guide, bet on a double-dip recession for the nation, since four of the last six recessions have had two downturns. And new government numbers, revealing that the 2001 recession was deeper and longer than first thought and that the recovery may be stalling, appear to have raised the odds.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 10 - Number: 3
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: The 1990's
Authors:
