Driskill - Missouri gets surge of new businesses

By Joe Driskill

director

Department of Economic Development

Jefferson City

We have been tracking economic trends and data very closely both on the national level and here in Missouri, and we continue to see strong signs of the economy making a resurgence.

At the Department of Economic Development, we have a research division called the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, or MERIC for short. Their staff tracks very closely a number of economic indicators to gauge the overall health of the state's economy.

A recent study by MERIC shows a strong surge in new business start-ups in our state. According to their research, 1,272 new businesses started up in Missouri in the month of October. Of this number, 669 of these firms were service-related. The remaining firms making up the bulk of the new start-ups were construction, 193; finance, insurance and real estate 109; retail trade, 102; and wholesale trade, 90.

There was one particular number that caught our attention. Despite the significant decline nationwide in manufacturing, 35 new manufacturing firms started up in Missouri in October. This number included eight in wood product manufacturing, and three each in food, chemical, primary metal, machinery, furniture/related products, and miscellaneous manufacturing.

The new business start-ups were spread throughout the state, though the metropolitan areas had the most new company formations: St. Louis County with 212, Jackson County with 111, St. Louis City with 81, St. Charles County with 61 and Greene County with 51.

However, the increase in manufacturing start-ups was not limited to populated areas. Several rural sections of Missouri showed significant new business activity. Phelps, Camden, Dent and Benton counties all had 10 or more new business formations. Concentrated activity occurred in the area extending from Kansas City southeast to Rolla and through Reynolds County. The Joplin (Jasper and Newton counties) and Branson (Taney, Christian and Stone counties) areas of southwest Missouri also formed a cluster of new business formations.

Our start-ups in October represented a significant increase from October 2002. Last year at the same time, Missouri had 1,133 start-up businesses, 139 less than this year.

The number of new business formations in Missouri has been relatively high, which indicates that Missouri's business climate has remained strong even during a period of national economic downturn.

In 2002 the total number of businesses in Missouri reached a record high. Hopefully we will be able to build on that record this year. We will be looking forward to seeing the final annual numbers when they are available in late January.

For more information about economic trends in Missouri, visit the MERIC Web site at www.MissouriEconomy.org.