Trendsights Newsletter

Winter Holiday Fun Facts
MERIC has gathered various fun facts covering all of your holiday favorites: snowfall chances, shopping, tree selection and more. Have yourself a warm and wondrous holiday season!
BLS Releases New Business Data
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has released new data on how U.S. businesses changed their operations and employment since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic through September 2020. This information, combined with data collected by other current BLS surveys, will aid in understanding how businesses responded during the pandemic. Other BLS statistics collected and published during the pandemic show changes in employment, wages, job openings and terminations, employer-provided benefits, and health and safety. The new data provides more insight by asking employers directly what they experienced as a result of the pandemic and how they responded. Click on the above link to learn more about this data.
Holiday Retail Sales 2020
Retail sales during the winter holidays are a good indicator of economic activity and consumer sentiment. Over 52 million people work in retail, making it the number one job sector in the U.S., with a $3.9 trillion contribution to the annual GDP. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), due to the pandemic driving online holiday sales, e-commerce sales are up 36.7 percent in the third quarter of 2020.
MERIC Customer Satisfaction Survey 2020
MERIC is the research unit in the Department of Higher Education & Workforce Development, providing innovative analyses and assistance to policymakers and the public. An important part of MERIC’s mission is to provide customer-focused products and seek input to improve and develop products to meet current and future needs. The survey takes only 5 minutes, but will provide MERIC valuable insight on customer preferences.
Twelve Days of Christmas Price Index Affected by Pandemic
For the 37th year, PNC Wealth Management has released its Christmas Price Index, a whimsical look at the cost of the gifts in the classic holiday song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. The PNC Christmas Price Index® is a holiday tradition. This year, the index accounts for the impact of the pandemic when calculating the cost of the presents. For example, social distancing doesn’t allow for performances such as the drummers drumming or ladies dancing. Click the link to see the 2020 full index.
Career Grade Report
With nearly 800 occupations to consider, choosing a career can be challenging. Missouri Career Grades is a tool to help compare the future outlook of occupations in Missouri. To make the comparisons easier, letter grades, called Career Grades, are assigned to various occupations within the state based on each occupation’s outlook over the next decade. Occupations in the Grade A category have the best outlook while Grade F occupations have the worst outlook. Grades are based on a combination of projected total job openings, projected percent growth, and the average wage of an occupation. Career Grades are available for Missouri and the state’s 10 regions, or Workforce Development Areas (WDAs). Grades assigned in each region are determined by comparing only the occupations within that region.
MERIC's Thanksgiving Holiday Fun Facts
The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621, setting a tradition for gathering with friends and family, giving thanks, and of course, eating! Did you know that Missouri ranks fifth in turkey production in the United States with an estimated 19 million turkeys produced? This is just one of the facts MERIC has put together for you to gobble up to celebrate this holiday.
Census Business Builder: Regional Analyst Edition
Census has recently released a Regional Analyst Edition built primarily for chambers of commerce and regional planning staff who need a broad portrait of the people and businesses in their service area. It presents data for all sectors of the economy and for a user-defined region made up of one or more areas. Click on the above link to begin to analyze your area.
Missouri Business by Size 2020
Tracking Missouri businesses by employment size can be used to identify which size of business employs the most people, how the many Missouri businesses range in size of employment and average wages, and the typical size of businesses by industry. Firms employing less than 50 workers made up 96.1 percent of all businesses in Missouri.
Missouri Business Index Remains High
Creighton University. For the fifth straight month, the index advanced above growth neutral and to its highest level since 2004. Economists consider the index, which measures such factors as new orders, production, supplier delivery times, backlogs, inventories, prices, employment, import orders and exports, a key economic indicator. Typically, a score greater than 50 indicates an expansionary economy while a score below 50 forecasts a sluggish economy.
Missouri Manufacturing Industries
Manufacturing is a major component of Missouri’s $332.1 billion economy accounting for 13.6 percent of the state’s private sector employment with 277,104 jobs across 6,681 establishments. The industry has added 21,175 jobs since 2014, growing 1.6 percent per year over five years compared to the nation’s 1.0 percent growth rate over the same period.
COVID-19 Missouri Economy Indicators: E-Commerce and Online Sales
Many businesses are considering new ways to increase sales as COVID-related capacity limits, restrictions, or changes in consumer behavior negatively impact revenue. E-commerce, which involves selling goods and services through an online platform, has gained popularity as one strategy to generate revenue. Click on the above link to learn more about Missouri sales.
Missouri Industry Concentration
Industry concentration analysis helps identify which industries are more export-oriented or specialized in an area than other industries. Businesses that are export-oriented, like manufacturing, agriculture, and some services, are important sources of new income to the state. As an example, Food Manufacturing industries in Missouri are a prosperous sector, employing 41,738 workers in 626 establishments, with an overall industry average location quotient of 1.35, higher than the national industry concentration of 1.00. Click on the above link to uncover what other industry sectors are concentrated in Missouri.
Ghoulish Halloween Facts
How many potential trick-or-treaters visit how many households? How many acres of pumpkins does Missouri produce? How much money are consumers planning to spend this holiday? Caution before reading, some facts may be dreadfully frightening!
Third Quarter 2020 Cost of Living
Missouri had the 5th lowest cost of living in the United States for the 3rd quarter in 2020. In general, the most expensive areas to live were Hawaii, Alaska, the Northeast, and the West Coast. The least expensive areas were the Midwest and Southern states. For the past 15 quarters, Missouri has been in the top 10 for lowest cost of living in the nation.
MERIC’s Population Data Series Dashboard
For 2019, Missouri counties population St. Louis County had the largest Missouri population with 994,205 residents followed by Jackson County with 703,011 residents, St. Charles County with 402,022 residents, St. Louis City with 300,576 residents, and Greene County with 293,086 residents. The county with the smallest population in Missouri is Worth County with 2,013 residents.
Missouri STEM Top Openings
Missouri’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) occupations are projected to have nearly 15,800 total openings each year through 2028. Total openings are a combination of growth openings, exit openings, and transfer openings. Growth openings occur as a business expands and needs more workers. Exit openings happen as people leave the workforce. Transfer openings are when a person transfers from one occupation to another. All but two of the top 20 STEM occupations have Career Grades are a B or higher, which means these occupations have above average growth, total openings, and/or wages and would offer good opportunities to those seeking career opportunities.
Census Monthly State Retail Sales Tool Now Available
Census has released an experimental data product featuring modeled state-level retail sales. The Monthly State Retail Sales (MSRS) report is a blended data product combining Monthly Retail Trade Survey data, administrative data, and third-party data. Data available includes year-over-year percent changes for Total Retail Sales excluding Non-store Retailers as well as 11 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) retail subsectors. Click on the above link to access this new tool.
Missouri Career Grades Summary
Using a combination of projected total job openings, projected percent growth and average wages, Career Grades are a tool to help make comparisons between occupations. Each occupation is assigned a letter grade from A+ to F based on outlook over the next decade. Grades are based on a combination of projected total job openings, projected percent growth, and average wages. Occupations with a grade of A or A+ have above average results in at least two of the three variables, while occupations with a grade of B or B+ have above average results in at least one of the three variables. Missouri is projected to have more than 370,000 annual job openings through 2028. The vast majority (95%) of these openings are in A, B, and C grade occupations.
Missouri’s Business Index Highest in Region
Missouri’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for September was 74.4, the highest index in the Midwest and an increase of 11.4 points from August. In April of this year, COVID-19 pushed the overall index to its lowest level in 11 years. Since April, the overall index has risen five consecutive months with four straight months above neutral, which is 50.0. A score greater than 50 indicates an expansionary economy, while a score below 50 forecasts a sluggish economy.
Research for Recovery
The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented shock to the economy, impacting the workforce and companies across sectors. The Research for Recovery webpage from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center contains new and relevant research created to assist with economic recovery, along with links to quickly navigate to other relevant resources. Click on the above link to see September occupations and industries (Excel files) with the most job postings during the month.
Exceed-Regional Economic and Entrepreneurial Development
Exceed, a program of the University of Missouri Extension Center, enhances economic development opportunities by providing high-quality research and insights to businesses, communities, regions, governments, and nonprofits through a variety of projects. Click on the above link to access more information about their programs and team.
Missouri Kids Count Data Book
The 2020 Annie E. Casey Foundation KIDS COUNT Data Book is here! View this book to discover data about the well-being of children and families throughout Missouri.
Location One
Location One (LOIS) has grown from serving the needs of a small group of local economic development professionals to serving as the primary selection data base for Missouri and the United States. LOIS offers buildings and sites ready to build or occupy along with Demographic, Market, Housing and many more reports on the communities surrounding the building sites. Click on the above link to access LOIS.