Wichita, KS employers (mostly aviation companies) have announced 1,500 proposed Lay-offs for the next few months. The majority of these companies are taking a pro-active approach to tightening up their staff in the chance that they will have fewer sales in the next year and may lose some of the record orders they now have. Another view was giving the companies an opportunity to get rid of some Dead Wood ( weak employees) that they no longer needed.
Because of these lay offs and the down turn in the national economy, Wichita State university has revised their 2009 Jobs forecast downward but at the same time they are still projecting an increase in jobs for 2009. The projection now is 1,650 additional jobs with half being in the aviation field.
The WSU leading index has declined but stil remains only slightly below it's all time high of 128. The index signals change to the Wichita economy six months in the future.
Existing home sales fell by 9% in October in the Midwest. The median price fell by 6.7% to $149,400. The Average home price fell in all 9 major cities tracked by the index but rose in two smaller cites; Wichita, KS and Omaha, NE. The report showed a 10% increase in the average sales price in Wichita to $127,000. Part of the reason for this large increase was the lessor numbers on buyers in the lower price ranges and the very stable market that Wichita has had over the last 5-7 years. Wichita prices in the preceding 5 years went up only 15.3% compared to double digit gains every month in many parts of the country. Over all sales are down in Wichita approaching the 20% range but the dramatic drop in interest rates just before Thanksgiving may reverse this trend.
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