While residential construction remains strong in suburban St. Louis, Kansas City and Minnesota, this region is wrestling with severe cutbacks in the aerospace industry. Wichita, Kan., was hit hard by layoffs at Boeing, Bombardier, Raytheon and other manufacturers of passenger aircraft.
Boeing's layoffs in the St. Louis area also made headlines, although some of those jobs may return soon to service Boeing's new $4.5 billion contract to build F-15 fighter planes.
Office construction in the region is also weak, with Minneapolis' vacancy rate at 12 percent downtown, and nearly 14 percent in the suburbs. According to the most recent Grubb-Ellis report, St. Louis has the strongest office market, with vacancy rates of only 9 percent downtown and 11 percent in the suburbs.
ELECTRICAL WHOLESALERS' SALES (in millions of dollars)
EW Estimates
Final 1998
Final 1999
Final 2000
Final 2001
Forecast 2002
Forecast 2003
West North Central
3,480.0
3,819.3
3,768.2
3,657.6
3,719.1
3,887.3
Iowa
491.8
503.7
497.0
482.4
490.5
512.7
Kansas
359.7
385.0
379.8
368.7
374.9
391.8
Minnesota
1,259.3
1,358.0
1,339.9
1,300.5
1,322.4
1,382.2
Missouri
1,004.7
1,182.1
1,166.2
1,132.0
1,151.0
1,203.1
Nebraska
149.0
155.0
152.9
148.4
150.9
157.7
North Dakota
88.7
97.0
95.7
92.9
94.5
98.7
South Dakota
126.7
138.6
136.7
132.7
134.9
141.0
EMPLOYMENT STATISTICS
Actual EC
in thousands
M
F/S/RT
G
West North Central
57,695
1,405.0
5,217.1
1,650.2
Iowa
8,180
247.2
755.2
250.2
Cedar Rapids MSA
1,566
20.3
65.0
11.6
Des Moines MSA
2,373
23.3
180.5
37.8
Dubuque MSA
262
10.4
29.0
4.0
Iowa City MSA
316
5.5
33.5
28.4
Sioux City MSA
309
14.3
33.5
7.8
Waterloo-Cedar Falls MSA
302
14.7
36.6
10.8
Kansas
7,529
201.2
680.7
254.3
Lawrence MSA
337
5.5
25.1
14.3
Topeka MSA
596
9.6
58.0
22.2
Wichita MSA
1,862
67.7
136.3
35.8
Minnesota
16,616
411.1
1,452.8
412.0
Duluth-Superior MSA
684
7.8
65.2
23.1
Minneapolis-St. Paul MSA
11,677
260.8
971.2
241.5
Rochester MSA
447
11.1
60.6
8.0
St. Cloud MSA
493
17.3
49.2
12.6
Missouri
16,546
362.3
1,459.4
425.7
Kansas City MSA
6,597
101.9
559.0
141.4
St. Louis MSA
8,360
170.2
759.7
155.5
Springfield MSA
860
20.9
98.1
22.2
Nebraska
4,987
113.3
485.2
160.3
Lincoln MSA
869
17.2
82.0
36.0
Omaha MSA
2,748
37.1
253.3
53.4
North Dakota
1,710
25.8
173.8
71.7
Bismarck MSA
311
3.4
30.5
10.6
Fargo-Moorhead MSA
753
8.5
61.0
14.2
Grand Forks MSA
324
3.7
25.0
11.6
South Dakota
2,180
44.1
210.0
76.0
Rapid City MSA
455
3.8
33.8
7.1
Sioux Falls MSA
624
13.0
76.1
11.2
NA — Not available MSA — Metropolitan Statistical Area PMSA — Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area CMSA — Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area EC — Electrical contractor employees. Actual numbers. M — Manufacturing employees in thousands. F/S/RT — Commercial accounts (finance, services, retail trade) employees in thousands. G — Government employees in thousands.
