Thursday, September 25, 2008

Owensboro GDP Growth Rate Higher than Nation

The Owensboro MSA gross domestic product (GDP) based on estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), outpaced growth both nationally and regionally. The GDP of a metropolitan area is defined as the market value of all final goods and services produced within that area for a given period of time. GDP is the most comprehensive measure of economic activity for a metropolitan area. Owensboro’s GDP grew by $275 million between 2005 and 2006. The 7.5% growth is higher than the 3.2% national growth. It was also higher than the 4.1% increase in the Evansville/ Henderson metro and the 6.5% growth in the Bowling Green metro. The Owensboro MSA five year growth was 19.6%.

Industries with the largest growth over the five-year period include health care and social assistance, manufacturing, and private service-providing industries. Private good producing industries, constituted $1.5 billion of the metro GDP (nearly $1 billion of which come from manufacturing), while private service-providing industries were responsible for $1.9 billion. Manufacturing bounced back with its first growth period in five years, an 18% increase. The health care sector continued steady growth, with an 8% increase between 2005 and 2006.

No comments: