The Creighton University Rural Mainstreet Index stayed above growth neutral for July, marking eight straight months the indicator. The overall index fell from 70.0 in June to 65.6 for July. Creighton University’s Dr. Ernie Goss said while the number fell a bit, things are still in solid shape.

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“The overall index for the month of July was down from last month, and last month was down from the previous month, so things are cooling down a little bit, but still in a healthy range. We're seeing the rural main street economy doing much better, with healthy growth. We're seeing exports driving that, we've got good solid grain prices, and we've also seen a lot of livestock prices doing better.”

Goss said lower grain prices are likely why the index has dropped a bit in the last couple of months. But, he said bank CEOs are starting to express concerns about the future of the ag economy over the next year. Drought and government regulation are some of the chief concerns for farmers nationwide.

"We asked the bank CEOs to look at six to 12 months, and they were less optimistic about the future. But some of that could be what are the potential Black Swans, or events that are low risk and high cost. Saber rattling with China; of course, anything there spills over into the Rural Mainstreet economy because exports are so important, and exports to China particularly important, whether we're talking about pork, corn, especially soybeans; that has some significant impacts on the region.”

Goss said employment levels aren’t completely back to pre-COVID 19 levels but they’re getting close.

“One thing that we did see, and if you look at the bureau of labor statistics data, most of the areas and most of the states are still below pre-pandemic levels, so we're not back to pre-pandemic employment levels in rural Main Street, but all states are moving in that direction. Three states, including Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota, are already back to pre-pandemic employment levels, so the other seven states are moving that direction, with not that much to go, and things are looking much better there.”

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