S-R Wants Your Help To Forecast Economy

Considering buying a house and want to know what mortgage rates will be next year? Worried about your job? Wondering if 1996 will be the year you finally get a real pay raise?

The Spokesman-Review will assemble a panel of economic experts Dec. 18 to answer real-life questions like these. We would like readers to help us question the economists.

If you would like to participate in this forum, please call interactive editor Doug Floyd at 459-5466 in Spokane or business reporter Eric Torbenson at 208-765-7122 in Coeur d’Alene. Leave your name and phone number on voice mail if they are not available when you call.

The question-and-answer session will be from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Dec. 18 at The Spokesman-Review, 999 W. Riverside. Seating is limited, so reservations are required.

We are especially interested in participants who fit the following descriptions: renters, first-time home buyers, retail workers, health care workers, construction workers, government workers, newcomers to the community, retirees and small-business owners.

Questions and responses from the meeting will be used in The Spokesman-Review’s annual economic forecast to be published in January.

, DataTimes