The headlines tend to be a bit smaller and can be stuffed deeper inside newspapers. But they're there, slowly appearing -- or reappearing -- from Duluth to Dubuque to Durand to Prairie du Chien and beyond, each offering another hint of economic recovery and another suggestion of actual improvements in housing, construction and other indicators of better times.
Following month after tiresome month of news about the deepening recession, fewer jobs, more government spending and higher taxes, even subtle signs of something less sinister seem almost alarming. Do we dare feel optimistic? The nation couldn't possibly be emerging from its despondent darkness? Could it?
Well, eight days ago, the state Department of Employment and Economic Development announced that unemployment in Northeastern Minnesota had dramatically dropped -- dropped! -- from 9.6 percent in March to 8.2 percent in April. There's a ways to go to reach pre-recession unemployment rates of around 6 percent, but when did we last see "dropped" and "unemployment" in the same sentence?
And the good news is not seen just in Duluth, where unemployment in April was 7 percent. Hibbing's rate was 8.4 percent, down from a high of 18.4 percent last June. And Virginia was at 9.5 percent, down from July's high of 17 percent. Credit the Iron Range's reopening mines, an early start to seasonal hiring and a later hiring of census workers.
Then, Monday, the Associated Press reported that construction activity surged nationally in April -- and by the largest amount in nearly a decade. Construction shot up 2.7 percent over the previous month, the biggest one-month improvement since August 2000. Housing construction jumped
ADVERTISEMENT
4.4 percent to $263 billion, helped along by expiring homebuyer tax credits. And nonresidential construction rose 1.7 percent to $302.7 billion, marking the first advance since March 2009, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. The rebound came largely because of private-sector work on communications projects and power-generation facilities. The showing was critical because "weakness in construction has been a major drag on the economy," as the AP noted.
Also Monday, researchers at Creighton University in Omaha said business conditions in the Midwest -- including Minnesota and eight neighboring states -- improved for a sixth straight month, "to create the highest leading economic index in nearly four years." Any business-conditions index above 50 indicates growth; the Midwest's index grew from 61.7 in April to 64.2 in May.
Finally, gas prices dropped nationally for a 26th straight day as lower oil prices continued to work their way to the nation's drivers, the Associated Press said. And it looks like there's room for pump prices to fall even lower. Yes, after Memorial Day when many of us plan travel. And yes, when gas prices always seem to go up.
We're not clear of the dark days of the recession yet. But what seems to be a sudden streak of positive economic indicators, even if a small one, has to spark optimism. Soon, perhaps, headlines heralding a complete recovery will scream from the front pages.
