Second quarter growth returned the Composite Index of local business and economic conditions to year earlier levels and cut the unemployment rate to 5.5%, on par with the rest of the nation. That's what the latest Peoria Area Economic Index shows. The index, from the Bradley University College of Business, tracks 30 economic indicators in it's quarterly assessments. Bernard Goitein is the chief author of the report. He says the unemployment rate is 1.3-percentage points lower than in the previous quarter. One reason, he says, is more people quitting their jobs: "If you look at the bigger picture, in the midwest and nationally, we've seen an elevated quit rate, people voluntarily saying, 'you know I don't need to work anymore, I don't need to look for work anymore, so I'll quit jobs,' and obviously reduce the unemployment." Goitein says the Peoria Metro Area also experienced an active real estate market in the most recent quarter, propelled by low mortgage rates. There were 8.6% more home sold than a year earlier, and the supply of homes also shot up by 13.4%. Goitein says that boosted the prices of homes in the metro area by about 6.7% from the same time in 2014.
Peoria Economy Grows, Slowly
