August 2016 Press Release

Index: Tallahassee Spending Stalls, Businesses Especially Cautious

Initial Reemployment Assistance Claims Continue to Drop, While Most Other Indicators are Stuck in a Pre-Election Rut

Tallahassee, FL – The Tallahassee Economic Index (TEI), the city’s top economic growth indicator, released numbers ending August 2016 which show a bleak month of spending, but continued stability in the strength of the job market.

“After another pullback in August, it is obvious the Tallahassee economy is experiencing the same slow, albeit, stable growth that we are also witnessing on a national level,” said TEI Founder Brett F. Ewing. “The index showed promising growth toward the beginning of the year, but with a recent back-off, is only up slightly for 2016. Although the election seems to have put everyone in a freeze pattern, employment remains strong and should lead to continued stability.”

The Index fell 8.52 points, from 56.69 in July to 51.17 in August.

“It seems like every time we get a little momentum going in the local economy we quickly get brought back down to reality,” said Lance Mitchell, Director of Research at the TEI. “Solid and promising numbers in July were followed up with dismal August reporting. Categories most closely associated with business spending were an especially big drag on the Index. Store & Office Equipment, Advertising, and Graphic Arts, Printing, & Publishing all had large drawdowns on both a month over month and year over year basis. The next few months will be especially important to get a gauge on whether we are stagnating or if we have indeed entered into an actual slowdown period.”

• Reemployment Assistance Initial Claims fell 4.50 percent MoM, and 13.33 percent YoY
• Single Family Home Median Sales Price fell 8.37 percent MoM, and 7.08 percent YoY
• Building Permits grew 27.27% from July to August
• Realtor Sales were down 9.29 percent from last month, but are up 9.30 percent YoY
• Airport Passengers increased 4.77 percent MoM, and 7.31 percent YoY