The economic decline in the Great Plains region continued through June 2002, with nonagricultural employment down 1.2 percent to 6.4 million jobs compared with June 2001 figures. The State of Missouri has been hardest hit, incurring most of the job losses in the region. The manufacturing sector accounted for nearly 80 percent of the total job losses in the region. Overall, manufacturing employment declined 3.9 percent in 12 months to 918,000 jobs as of June 2002. All four States in the region recorded manufacturing job losses, with 52 percent of the losses occurring in Missouri.

With major layoffs at Boeing, Bombardier, Raytheon, and other manufacturers of passenger aircraft, Wichita experienced a greater rate of job loss in manufacturing (nearly 8 percent) than any other metropolitan area in the region between June 2001 and June 2002. St. Louis ranked second in manufacturing job loss among the major Great Plains metropolitan areas, with a 6-percent decline attributable in part to layoffs at Daimler-Chrysler and Boeing, two of the area’s largest manufacturers. However, manufacturing jobs in the St. Louis metropolitan area should increase slightly because Boeing recently signed a $4.5 billion contract to build F–15 fighter planes.

The unemployment rate in the Great Plains region remained relatively unchanged in the past 12 months and was reported to be 4.5 percent as of June 2002. The Wichita area recorded a significant increase in the unemployment rate, which climbed to 6 percent as of June compared with 4 percent a year earlier. However, local sources cite the fact that Boeing appears to have finished its current layoffs in the area as evidence that unemployment may have begun to stabilize.

Despite a sluggish regional economy, single-family permit activity for the first half of 2002 was up in all four States. Permits were issued for a total of 22,848 homes, a 5-percent increase over the same period in 2001. All major metropolitan areas in the region registered increases. Activity in the Kansas City area was up 11 percent to 5,228 homes. Singlefamily permit activity was up 3 percent in the St. Louis metropolitan area and up 16 percent in the Wichita area. Although the difference represents only 1,100 homes, it is the first significant increase in permit activity in 2 years.

Existing home sales in the region were up approximately 1 percent to 142,000 units sold through June of 2002 compared with year-to-date sales through June 2001. In general, sales volume and prices for the first half of 2002 were up modestly from the comparable period in 2001. In the Kansas City metropolitan area, existing home sales declined approximately 2 percent to 15,115 sales, and the average sales price increased by 2 percent to $137,700. Activity and prices increased in Wichita. Approximately 3,650 existing homes were sold through June 2002, up 2 percent compared with the same period in 2001. The median sales price rose to $96,000, up less than 1 percent. In Omaha, Nebraska, existing sales rose 1 percent to 4,100 units sold through June 2002 compared with the same period last year, while the median existing sales price increased 3 percent to $122,000 during this period. In Springfield, Missouri, existing home sales were down approximately 5 percent.

Multifamily permit activity in the Great Plains region in the first half of 2002 declined by 9 percent to 7,318 units. The Kansas City metropolitan area registered the largest decline in multifamily permit activity at 66 percent. Less than 1,100 units were issued permits in the first 6 months of 2002. The reduction is in response to the more competitive market conditions and softening because of the high volume of units entering the market. As a result of the increased supply, the current apartment vacancy rate is estimated to be 12 percent. However, given that most of the new activity has been concentrated in southern Johnson County, which is experiencing the fastest rate of household growth in the metropolitan area, and given that production has declined, balanced market conditions are expected within the next 24 months. In St. Louis, multifamily permit activity remained unchanged. In the first half of 2002, permits were issued for 1,233 units. The rental vacancy rate in St. Louis remained at 7 percent throughout 2001 and through June 2002. In Wichita, the rental market has been balanced to soft, recording an 8-percent rental vacancy rate over the past 15 months, primarily because of a local economy dependent on the weakening aircraft industry. Reflecting the softness in the rental market, only 93 new multifamily units were permitted through June 2002, after only 142 units were permitted during all of 2001.