Economic Outlook Bright
The Spokane County economy will remain strong through 1994 and beyond, with retailers beating last year’s fall sales by 2 percent, a new forecast says.
“Retail sales (in 1994) are projected to finish well ahead of 1993 figures,” according to a Washington State University quarterly newsletter on Spokane County employment, wage income and retail sales. “Hardy sales in the first quarter of 1995 should continue into 1996.”
Forecasters at WSU College of Business and Economics expect employment and retail sales to increase through this year and next, with some exceptions.
Growth in wages, however, may slip in 1995 as fewer high paying manufacturing and construction jobs are added. The report predicts that total wages in the county this year will jump 8.75 percent, slowing to a 4.83 percent gain in 1995.