Global Commerce: Foreign Direct Investment

“Tennessee has been remarkably successful in attracting foreign investment in recent years. It is a real plus given how slow economic growth has been not only nationally but globally,” said Steven Livingston, the “Global Commerce” editor and BERC fellow who has produced the quarterly report since the late 1990s. [http://news-from-mtsu.blogspot.com/2016/03/377-mtsu-study-foreign-investment.html]

Business and Economic Research Center News

www.mtsu.edu/berc 

Tennessee Housing Market 4th Quarter
The housing market continues to improve, especially single-family homes. [more]

Expectations for Nashville Economy
David Penn's presentation to Nashville Risk Management Association Feb. 14
[presentation pdf]

Tennessee Economic Indicators

• Seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment insurance in TN increased in Jan. following a large decline in Dec. The less volatile trend continues to show improvement, however. 
• Permits issued for single-family home construction in TN fell again in Dec, the 2nd monthly decline following a large increase in Oct. The trend continues to show improvement. 
• Tennessee unemployment rate remained at 7.6% in Dec., down from 8.5% a year ago. 
• Seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment for TN gained 3,000 jobs in Dec. from the previous month. Over the year, nonfarm employment has gained 36,400 jobs, up 1.4%.
  
• State sales tax collections up 5.1% in Dec. over the year (seasonally adjusted), the largest rise since June 2012. 

Graphs: Tracking Tennessee's Economic Recovery | MSA | County

Global Commerce Newsletter

http://www.mtsu.edu/~berc/globalcommerce.html 

In the new Global Commerce newsletter from the Business and Economic Research Center, Dr. Steven Livingston examines trends and changes in Tennessee's county-level export activity. Mexico became the first country other than Canada to import more than $1 billion in Tennessee products in one quarter. [more]

Employment Growth by Industry

http://www.mtsu.edu/~berc/tacir/tennesseejobs.html 

Employment by industry heat tables and summary tables for the
Tennessee and 10 metropolitan statistical areas through July:

• Chattanooga MSA
• Clarksville MSA
• Cleveland MSA
• Jackson MSA
• Johnson City MSA
• Kingsport-Bristol MSA
• Knoxville MSA
• Memphis MSA
• Morristown MSA
• Nashville MSA
• Tennessee