CAF In the News
Tepid recovery forecast for 2011
BY LU ANN FRANKLIN Times Correspondent nwi.com |
MERRILLVILLE | Northwest Indiana's outlook for economic recovery in 2011 may be "tepid" but will lay the groundwork for future economic growth, said panelists during a presentation Wednesday, sponsored by the Construction Advancement Foundation.
Don Coffin, associate professor of economics at Indiana University Northwest, said he's "pessimistically optimistic" about the region's prospects for recovery in the next 12 months.
Mark Maassel, president/CEO of the Northwest Indiana Forum, said shedding companies once in the construction industry has been "difficult and painful to go through" but positions the surviving firms for "a much stronger recovery."
The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority is focused primarily on construction over the next several years for such big projects as the extension of South Shore rail and regional bus services, the Gary/Chicago International Airport expansion and lakefront revitalization, said Bill Hanna, RDA executive director.
Echoing comments he made Friday at the Lake County Advancement Committee meeting, Coffin said the projected growth for next year is less than 3 percent. That will hold the unemployment rate steady at 9.6 percent nationally and 10.5 percent locally, he said.
"It's hard to see where the economic growth will come from," Coffin told those attending the event at Gamba's Ristorante. "It will be a tepid recovery."
Maassel and Hanna agreed that the recession has caused economic hardships in the Calumet Region. However, both pointed to the brighter future beyond 2011 because of projects currently in the works.
"We've had more inquiries from firms interested in building facilities in Northwest Indiana in the first nine months of this year, compared with last year," Maassel said. "Leaders of companies are saying it's time to prepare for the future."
Four construction projects already have made $500 million in investments in Northwest Indiana, at ArcelorMittal, U.S. Steel, Porter hospital and MonoSol, he said.
Hanna said the RDA has committed $30 million for the four major transportation and economic development projects and brought in another $56 million in federal funding. Those projects will create jobs in construction and other fields over the next three years, he said.
"We need to do the heavy lifting now," Hanna said.
THE TIMES - Published Nov. 18, 2010