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Effects of COVID-19 Keeping Regional Manufacturing in Recession

Pxfuel

The manufacturing sector in a nine-state region that includes Oklahoma is stuck in recession.

That’s according to the Mid-America Business Conditions Index, a monthly survey out of Creighton University. On the 0 to 100 scale where numbers above 50 indicate growth, the index increased from 35.1 in April to 43.5, still down from where it was in March.

Job losses due to COVID-19 are a big part of the problem.

"For any signals of the economy turning around, I think one of those is going to be the expiration of that $600 per week payment to unemployed workers as a result of the coronavirus," said Creighton University economist Ernie Goss.

Trade indicators are still being affected by COVID-19 as well, with a bit more than one-third of supply managers saying the pandemic has forced them to extend payment periods for outstanding invoices or revise or cancel contracts, and more than one-fourth moving purchases from foreign sources to domestic ones.

"All in all, the trade numbers are just looking not good at all, and that’s really affecting the manufacturing sector. And that’s one of the things that we’re going to be looking for," Goss said.

Oklahoma is not far behind the region as a whole. Its Business Conditions Index score for May was 43.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.
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