Veteran economist Chris Bollinger is predicting 2.2% economic growth across Kentucky in 2017.
Bollinger, director of the University of Kentucky Center for Business and Economic Research said much of the employment gains will be seen in health and service jobs. Bollinger said there are lots options when it comes to economic advances in the state’s rural communities. He spoke at the UK Economic Outlook Conference.
“This is something in our economy that maybe we need to take a closer look at from a policy perspective which is both the matching of workers to jobs geographically and the matching of workers to the skills that are needed, ” he said.
Bollinger said it’s too soon to predict economic winners and losers under the new Trump administration. But, he said, changes in trade rules will be felt in Kentucky.
“Trade wars in general are bad for the economy. Shutting down trade has been shown historically again and again to be a problem for the economy because we export a fair amount in Kentucky,” he said.
© 2017 WEKU
