42 Quotes by Ernie Goss

Of course the loss of the 2,400 GM jobs will hurt the Oklahoma and Oklahoma City economies. However, given the provisions of job banks, the full force of the negative impacts will not be felt until 2008. In the interim, our survey points to solid growth with positive job gains in the months ahead for Oklahoma's economy.

No other state in the nation stands to derive as much of an economic stimulus from the opening of the Asian beef market as Nebraska. However, economic gains are going to be slow going as food-processing firms attempt to re-establish a beef presence in these foreign markets.

If we'd had a typical winter, it would have been a little tough for the retailers.

Businesses located in the Northwest portion of Arkansas tended to report stronger economic conditions than businesses in other parts of the state. However, I do expect reasonably solid job growth for most areas through the second quarter of this year.

Businesses in North Dakota definitely benefited from much warmer weather for the month according to comments from businesses in our survey. It is difficult to separate out the impacts of weather from more fundamental economic factors, but even so, our survey still points to solid growth in the months ahead.

I expect positive, but weaker hiring in the region in the months ahead.

I expect higher commodity prices and escalating short-term interest rates to push regional growth down significantly in the second half of 2006.

For most states in the region, unemployment rates moved lower and job growth higher as manufacturers, finance firms and energy providers details growth. However, telecommunications remained weak and construction cooled in January.

Job growth in Missouri has definitely slowed over the past several months. In terms of hiring, Missouri experienced January job losses. However, strong new orders should convert to an improving employment picture in the months ahead. Durable goods producers were much more bullish in their economic assessments for January than non-durable goods manufacturers.