October 2015 R/ECON™ forecast: more rapid growth for the state in 2015 than in 2014

The October 2015 R/ECON™ forecast shows more rapid growth for the state in 2015 than in 2014. Nonagricultural employment rose by 0.7 percent— or 27,700 jobs in 2014—after growth of 1.2 percent or 45,100 jobs in 2013. Growth will improve to 1.2 percent this year and in 2016; it will then average 0.8 percent over the rest of the forecast period, which goes through 2025. Unfortunately, at these rates the job base will not return to the peak level reached in the first quarter of 2008 until mid-2017. By the end of the forecast period in 2025 the employment base should be more than 250,000 jobs, or 6 percent, greater than at the 2008 peak.

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