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Kelsey Bergen
Each month Aurora Development Corporation sends out an Economic Indicators Report. This is a data graphic that shares a snapshot of what is happening in the City of Aurora and Hamilton County compared to the previous year in a variety of areas.
The first area that is compared is the county, city, and motor vehicle taxable sales. This data is collected from the Nebraska Department of Revenue and is reported three months after the fact. So, in December the data was reporting figures from September. During this month, county taxable sales were $6.06 million, a 4.1 percent increase over the previous year; city taxable sales were $5.43 million, a 6.8 percent increase; and motor vehicle sales were $3.53 million, a 37.2 percent increase from the same month in 2021. This data shows us spending trends and we can see how local and national issues are impacting our economy. For example, the large increase in motor vehicle sales is likely due to the significant supply chain issues that were taking place a year ago.
The second area that is recorded each month is related to wage and local jobs. This data is collected in real time from the NE Works website. During December, the Nebraska Average weekly wage rate was $1,057. This is a number calculated by the State of Nebraska. The number of local jobs available for December is 216. These are on-site jobs that are listed through the NE works website. While this number may not reflect every job available in the county, it does give a good snapshot of how the number of jobs advertised changes and if there is an adequate number of job opportunities.
County employment and unemployment rates are also compiled from the NE Works website with a two-month delay. Reporting for October 2022, the county unemployment rate was 2.0 percent, a 11 percent increase over the previous year, and the total number of people employed was 4,722, which was down .5 percent compared to 2021. Apart from 2020 during the pandemic, these numbers typically do not fluctuate much with Hamilton County typically showing a low unemployment rate with almost all eligible workers in the workforce.
Also reported in the economic indicators is the City of Aurora building permits and construction values. This information is collected directly from the city office and shows the widest percent of change when compared to previous years.
For example, in October of 2022 there were 10 building permits issued, which was a 23 percent decrease from the previous year. The construction value totaled $89,680, which was a 92 percent decrease from the previous year. This tells us that some large building projects took place last year at this time. Collecting this data each month is important in compiling the total for the entire year, which is a better form of comparison for this category.
The final area compiled in this report is the median listing price and number of active home listings. In December 2022, the median listing price was $245,000 and there were 22 active home listings in Hamilton County. Both stats are calculated based on searches conducted through the website Zillow.com. This information helps us know if there is an adequate housing stock for workers wanting to move to our area and if the housing market is currently strong or weak.
If you are interested in receiving the Economic Indicators Report monthly, you can email kelsey@growaurora.com to join our mailing list, or you can follow Aurora Development Corporation on Facebook using @GrowAurora.
KELSEY BERGEN serves as executive director of the ADC. She can be reached at kelsey@growaurora.com
