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Experts at Indiana University’s Kelly School of Business say positive economic growth will continue in the Hoosier state and across the country.
The Kelly School released Futurecast 2025, its annual economic forecast, on Wednesday.
“The economy is really quite strong at the moment. We’ve seen several years of positive and above-average economic growth, which is a little surprising when we’ve had inflation and higher interest rates,” IU Kelley School of Business economist Kyle Anderson told Inside INdiana Business. “We kind of expected there to be an economic slowdown. But the reality is that our economy is pretty good right now.”
Anderson says there is growth across the state, and Indiana is seeing low unemployment. The Futurecast also says that supply and demand will return to balance after the shortages and disruptions that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re seeing an economy that is truly post-COVID-19,” Anderson said. “It is expressed by a more stable growth, a more normal level of unemployment [and] slightly higher interest rates, but overall a well-functioning economy.’
The data shows that while central Indiana is still the economic driver, the manufacturing industry is strong in the state’s regions. However, researchers see a divide between urban and rural Indiana.
“I think the growth is spread across the state because you have areas like Fort Wayne, Evansville, Northwest, all of these areas are doing pretty well…[but] some of our smaller communities are struggling,” Anderson said. “They’re struggling to keep workers and keep talent and have population growth … it’s not unique to Indiana; that’s true across the country.”
Last month, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation said it had secured $38.3 billion in committed capital investment Out of 124 companies in the third quarter of this year. That beats the previous record of $28.7 billion for all of 2023.
The state has also seen strong wage growth over the past year and a half, according to the report. Futurecast 2025 also looks at inflation, which Anderson says is under control right now.
“It is about 2.5% annually. The prices have increased a little, but in fact it is within limits,” he said. “The challenge with that is that people still feel that prices are higher, and they’re right … low inflation doesn’t mean prices are going down; it just means that prices are stable.”
The Kelly School has presented its forecasts around the state since 1972, based on research from its Indiana Business Research Center. this year, The Futurecast Economic Tour 11 cities will be visited.
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