Your Minnesota economy: Looking better for June?
Maybe it's the weather. The sunshine and warmer temps around Minnesota always make us a little more hopeful no matter our economic circumstances.
Or maybe some of us are finally starting to feel the recovery.
Some recent, relatively upbeat economic signs in Minnesota -- including a downtick in the unemployment rate are matching up with what we're hearing from sources in MPR's Public Insight Network
We asked them to give us their personal economic forecast for June. Will you be saving or spending? What non-essentials will you buy? (You can add your voice here.)
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The couple dozen responses we've received so far have been more upbeat than when we asked these kinds of questions last fall.
"Things are improving, drastically. April and May have been the best months I've seen in two years," said Jason Rysavy, owner / founder of Catalyst Studios, an interactive ad agency based in Minneapolis.
Rysavy's given us perspectives before on life as a small business owner in the recession. So we paid attention when he told us things were looking better.
"Work is looking up so we're making a few major purchases that we've been holding off on for a couple years. Business picked up dramatically which allows us to have a bit more flexibility with cash."
It's also prompted him to spend some spend some money on his home, including new living furniture -- music to the ears of retailers.
Tim Eiler, a consultant from St. Bonifacius, also sees his economic situation improving in June. But he's still wary of the economic and political problems in Europe and Asia and how that will affect the U.S.
So he's still in saving mode. "Putting off deciding whether to send daughter to private school. Also putting off purchase of motorcycle."
Cinda Yager expects June to be a better month. But that doesn't mean she's not worried. She'll start a temp job as an administrative assistant. Growth in temporary jobs are often a good early sign of economic recovery.
Still, she's not planning to buy only essentials next month and is putting off buying shoes, clothes and a new humidifier.
Will she able to kick into savings mode? Not yet.
"I have not been saving money since I've been living off savings," she told us. "I expect that to turn around by the end of the year (I hope).
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How's June looking for you? Tell us what you're seeing in your own economic forecast.
We'll pull together responses and highlight them in upcoming MinnEcon posts. You can also share some thoughts below.