e-connection (October 2016)

Gas stations make up a small but essential part of the retail trade sector in many Kansas communities, both large and small. CEDBR, as part of research in Kansas’ retail sector gaps, has analyzed sales in the gasoline station retail sector throughout Kansas.

• 18 Kansas counties had sales more than 50 percent higher than their peer counties, and 39 counties had sales more than 50 percent lower than their peer counties.

Read the full article.

The rural area of the state is defined as counties that are neither part of a Kansas metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area. Note that it does not include the small towns or countryside areas in counties that are part of a metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area.

In every region in Kansas, the rural counties are expected to have a declining population; however, the severity of the decline varies from region to region. The region with the smallest decline is projected to be the North Central region, which is expected to decline from 68,310 to 59,621 people over the forecast, a decline a 12.7 percent.

Read the complete article.
 

From June to July, the WSU Current Conditions Index decreased by 0.6 percent. The Current Conditions Index increased year-to-year by 0.1 percent from June 2015 to July 2016. In addition, the Leading Index is forecasting a 0.73 percent decrease in economic activity over the next six months.

Read a further analysis of the monthly Index activity.

Access Index data.

The unemployment rate for Kansas, as a whole, decreased by 0.3 percentage points from July of 2016 to August of 2016. Wichita and Topeka saw the smallest decrease, falling by just 0.1 percentage points. Manhattan and Lawrence saw a bigger decrease with 0.3 percentage points and 0.4 percentage points respectively.

A slide presentation is available with additional employment and unemployment data for Kansas and its four metro areas.

View the August slide presentation.

The Consumer Price Index is used to calculate inflation, or the change in price of a basket of goods and services, as it impacts consumers; whereas, the Producer Price Index measures changes in selling prices, thereby expressing price changes from the perspective of the seller who produces a particular commodity.

A slide presentation updated with August 2016 data shows the Midwest inflation rate increased from July to August. While the urban metropolitan areas noticed a 0.52% increase, the non-metropolitan urban areas saw a smaller increase of 0.26%. 

The Producer Price Index data shows that prices in the United States have increased from August 2015 to August 2016 for aircraft (1.0 percent). During that same time period, the index decreased crude petroleum (-3.0 percent), natural gas (-12.2 percent), slaughter livestock (-19.8 percent), sorghum (-25.9 percent) and wheat (-17.9 percent).

Access this slide presentation.

Learn more about the CPI.

Learn more about the PPI.