Page 70 - South Mississippi Living - January, 2018

FINANCE & FITNESS movin’ on up ECONOMIC
Looking positive for 2018
OUTLOOK
story by Lynn Lofton photos courtesy of Dave Dennis, Ashley Edwards and Suzie P. Sawyer
What’s the economic outlook for 2018? Three Coast residents with their fingers on the pulse of the local and national economy share their thoughts on what the new year may bring.
The president of
Specialty Contractors and
former Federal Reserve
Bank board member
Dave Dennis feels Coast
residents should be
optimistic. “The national
economy is performing
very well, yet fluctuating
around a two percent
growth trend over much
of the economic expansion, but has delivered significant labor market improvement,” he said. “Generally, the economy is expected to continue to grow slightly above the two percent pace over the next several quarters. In the Mississippi Gulf Coast markets, depending on the specific industry, these trends should hold consistent.”
Dennis adds that skilled labor, skilled trades and general work opportunities are in critical demand. “With the unemployment rate at 4.1 percent, demand for highly skilled, highly motivated workers has increased greatly. This may provide an upward pressure on wages, but at a minimum should result in a feeling of reasonable job security for the average worker.”
Ashley Edwards, CEO of the Gulf
Coast Business Council, says 2017 was a strong year economically and feels there are many reasons to be optimistic that economic growth will continue
on its current pace or even accelerate.
Katrina, the Great Recession and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. “Our numbers in the last few years are improving, but not at the rate we’d like to see in the important economic
70 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • January 2018
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Dave Dennis
Ashley Edwards
Suzie P. Sawyer
indicators we track,” Edwards said. “That’s why the Business Council is advocating so aggressively for spending the BP Economic Damage Settlement Funds on the Coast and targeting those funds toward transformational
“A strong U.S. economy is certainly
a good thing for the Coast, and given the industry mix in our regional market, strong growth in the national economy will translate into positive effects in the local economy,” he said.
He says the Coast also benefits from increased defense spending, given
the local military assets and major employers such as Huntington Ingalls. “Unfortunately, however, regional data we’ve compiled demonstrates that the Mississippi Gulf Coast has
not maintained the same economic momentum as the state or the nation as a whole during the recent economic upswing.”
The most significant reason for that gap is that the Coast is still recovering from the triple-hit of Hurricane
economic development opportunities.” Suzie P. Sawyer, managing director
with Trinity Investment Services, is very positive on the U.S. economy. “According to Dorsey, Wright
and Associates, domestic equities are the number one place to be invested (assuming an investor
has the appropriate tolerance and understanding of that risk),” she said. “Cash is the fifth best place (or next
to the worst, second only to foreign currencies) to be invested. So, the American consumer is working and spending money — 70 percent of what makes our democratic economy run
is people spending money. Hopefully, with the new tax code changes, we will all be keeping and spending more money.”