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Missouri's economy lagged nation's in 2011

Missouri’s Gross Domestic Product growth was stagnant in 2011. That’s according to a new report released Tuesday by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis, or BEA.
The report found that Missouri’s GDP was essentially unchanged between 2010 and 2011. The real estate and construction sectors both faced sharp declines. Agriculture took a 9 percent hit.

Bruce Domazlicky is an economist at Southeast Missouri State University. He says several factors contribute to sluggish the growth, such as lack of demand for goods and services.

“Retails sales haven’t grown as fast in Missouri as they have elsewhere, which is probably due to many factors. Employment growth has been kind of slow. Income growth has been a little bit slower than average. So you put all of that together and it tends to kind of hold things back a bit.”

Missouri Department of Economic Development spokesman John Fougere cautions the report is only an estimate and he expects the BEA the revise Missouri’s numbers upwards later in the year.

He points to Missouri’s lower-than-the-national average unemployment rate, a better job creation record than any neighboring state, and growth in exports.