Signs of a Recovery?

As you know, we at kceconomy.com are always looking for any sign that the Kansas City area economy might be rebounding. Those signs have been very hard to find over the past six months or so, but we have seen a few positive figures popping up over the past few weeks.
First of all, the local unemployment rate declined for the first time since last October — from 8.4 percent to 8.2 percent. Granted, 8.2 percent is still a high unemployment rate, but the fact that it declined is somewhat encouraging. The U.S. rate went up over the same time period, as did the rate in Kansas. Missouri’s rate remained the same.
Secondly, we got some good news in the manufacturing sector. The General Motors plant in Fairfax was expected to be shut down for at least nine weeks over the summer (as were most GM plants). However, GM announced that the Fairfax plant is one of the few plants that would remain open over the summer. This is clearly a feather in the cap for Kansas City area auto workers and shot in the arm to the many other workers who support the auto industry.
These signs are small compared to the mountains of bad news in recent months, but in these tough times any good news is welcome. Hopefully these positive notes will prove to be the beginning of a recovery trend.