Economy Growing, Mood Not

A monthly measure of the state's financial condition looks good, but looks can be deceiving. The University of Illinois Flash Index is at 107, a high-water mark since April 2007.  Flash Index author Fred Giertz says only in some ways does the economy look good. “We have good news in a sense that the Flash Index went up from 106.5 to 107,” says Giertz, an economics professor at the University of Illinois. “Almost every month, there’s obviously an asterisk … We still have a substantial unemployment problem in the United States and even more so in the state of Illinois.”

 

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At 9.2 percent, Illinois trails only Nevada. It’s like that old saying, a recession is when your neighbor loses his or her job. A depression is when you lose yours.  The index uses a weighted average of corporate earnings, personal income, and consumer spending. Any number greater than 100 indicates growth.

 

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