Nebraska’s leading economic indicator rose during May after falling during March and April, indicating the state’s economy is beginning to recover from the impact of COVID-19.
Eric Thompson, the director of the University of Nebraska -Lincoln’s Bureau of Business Research, said a reduction of unemployment claims, a rise in single-family home building permit requests, and increased airline passenger travel primarily contributed to the recovery. Thompson said researchers expect this to continue as employment slowly climbs and the hardest-hit sectors adapt to the changes.
“The key question now is, how strong will the recovery be? We anticipate it will be a strong recovery. There was a big decline and we’re hoping to recover a significant share of that loss here throughout the rest of the year,” Thompson said.
He said the pace of recovery will be impacted by the state of the global economy and consumer confidence.