The Business Courier and Cincinnati Enquirer are reporting forecasts for a positive economic growth pattern for 2013 for the greater Cincinnati area. Courier Staff Reporter Steve Watkins states:

“The Greater Cincinnati economy appears to be reversing a long-term trend and should grow faster than the U.S economy next year, a panel of local economists said Tuesday morning…

“Cincinnati is coming out of the recession more quickly and doing so in better shape than the rest of the country,” said (Janet) Harrah, who chairs the five-member Regional Economic Advisory Committee for the Cincinnati USA Partnership for Economic Development and the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.”

Lisa Bernard-Kuhn, a reporter for the Enquirer says, “…the local economy appears to be recovering from the Great Recession more quickly than other parts of the U.S…This region’s job market is rebounding faster than job growth to continue in 2013.”

This economic committee is predicting 2.4% growth for the Cincinnati region in 2013 overshadowing an expectation of a 2.3% national economic increase.

Why this increase for Cincinnati?

• Jobs. Cincinnati has recovered 97.4% of its pre-recession jobs.
• Housing Market. New houses available for sale have returned to four months’ worth of inventory. That’s about the same as they were pre-recession. Home sales are up 11.3% through September in Cincinnati and 15.5% in Northern Kentucky.
• Manufacturing. The area’s manufacturing business has regained 95% of their jobs lost since August 2007.

Dick Steve, vice president of forecasting for Integral Analytics (and another economic committee member), states: “We have a great opportunity for a virtuous cycle. Employment growth feeds spending growth, which feeds employment growth, and so on.”

Read the entire Courier article here. Read the in-depth Enquirer article here.