Despite improvements in agriculture and manufacturing, weakness in energy and construction left the economies of most Tenth District states with only slight gains in 1988. The district still lacks a strong, dominant sector to help it catch up with the nation in 1989.

Information about the national economy is typically available well before information about the regional economy. For example, national employment data are usually released about a month before data for individual states, and the state data are often revised subsequently, resulting in a lag of...

Manufacturing is a major force in the Tenth District economy, accounting for the largest share of output in the region and one of the largest shares of employment. Moreover, many manufacturing jobs are among the highest paying jobs in the district. Yet little information is available to track...