Tracking Tennessee's Economic Recovery

Introduction

The economy remains the number-one topic of conversation throughout the country. Where do we stand, and when is a full recovery in sight? Since the recession started, the staff of the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR)* has worked to keep abreast of the situation and keep Tennessee decision-makers informed.

As a means of communicating this information, TACIR is collaborating with Middle Tennessee State University's Business and Economic Research Center to provide a website (mtsu.edu/berc/tacir) to track the state's economy during the recovery from the recession that began in December 2007. The site allows the reader to follow labor-force status including employment and unemployment numbers, housing data including a housing price index and construction activity, and sales tax collections. These data are available for the state and 10 metropolitan statistical areas across the state, and some of that data for all 95 Tennessee counties. Presented graphically, the data may also be downloaded in spreadsheets for use at the reader's convenience.

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a private, non-profit research organization that includes academic and non-academic economists, dates the expansion and contraction of the U.S. economy. NBER has dated the latest recession as beginning in December 2007 and ending in June 2009. While the recession may have ended in 2009, satisfactory job growth has eluded the national and most local economies. To follow the progress of the Tennessee economy, indicators of economic activity are tracked going back at least until 2007.

next: Labor Force and Non-Farm Employment

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*The Business and Economic Research Center (BERC) at Middle Tennessee State University provides current regional economic data as a public service and conducts economic impact studies on commission. The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR), consisting of public officials from state and local government and private citizen members, serves as a forum for the discussion and resolution of intergovernmental problems. This article was originally published by the Tennessee County Services Association.

Table of Contents

TACIR is collaborating with BERC to provide a website to track the state's recovery from the recession that began Dec. 2007.

• Tracking Tennessee's Economic Recovery