EAST NORTH CENTRAL

In a market area that depended so much on industrial business for its strength, the flight of factories to offshore locations has hit especially hard, and will be the toughest challenge to overcome in the future. The region has lost over 500,000 manufacturing jobs since July 2000. Despite these dismal numbers, some pockets of growth exist in several areas of the Rustbelt. With the exception of Detroit, which continues to suffer from downtown office vacancy rates approaching 30 percent, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Chicago and Milwaukee all have vacancy rates of less than 20 percent, and Chicago actually has some sizeable office projects underway. Office construction in the Windy City is up 66 percent compared to the first nine months of 2002, thanks to a $110-million project on South Wacker Drive and a $76-million project for the Chicago Transit Authority. Indianapolis has reason to cheer, too, with a $939-million airport expansion slated for completion by July 2007.

ELECTRICAL WHOLESALERS' SALES
(in millions of dollars)EW Estimates Final
1999 Final
2000 Final
2001 Final
2002 Forecast
2003 Forecast
2004East North Central 12,613.3 12,720.1 12,080.6 11,762.5 11,830.7 12,545.9Illinois 4,899.1 4,940.6 4,692.2 4,568.7 4,595.2 4,873.0Indiana 1,049.1 1,058.0 1,004.8 978.4 984.1 1,043.5Michigan 2,365.3 2,385.3 2,265.4 2,205.7 2,218.5 2,352.6Ohio 2,743.3 2,766.5 2,627.5 2,558.3 2,573.1 2,728.6Wisconsin 1,556.4 1,569.6 1,490.7 1,451.5 1,459.9 1,548.1EMPLOYMENT STATISTICSActualin thousands EC M C GEast North Central 116,805 3,394.6 10,799.1 2,936.0Illinois 34,151 730.0 3,051.0 825.2Bloomington-Normal MSA 373* 7.4 50.0 12.4Champaign-Urbana-Rantoul MSA 340* 9.5 42.0 34.1Chicago PMSA 26,403 477.6 2,231.7 511.0Davenport-Rock Island-Moline MSA 1,266* 23.9 92.6 24.7Decatur MSA 320* 10.8 25.2 6.0Kankakee PMSA 183* 5.8 21.8 7.2Peoria MSA 712* 27.0 89.0 19.7Rockford MSA 727* 39.9 78.5 19.2Springfield MSA 1,028* 3.9 57.3 29.6Indiana 15,125 568.8 1,333.1 377.3Bloomington MSA 229* 7.4 27.5 18.4Elkhart-Goshen MSA 422* 61.8 36.7 6.8Evansville MSA 738 29.0 81.1 14.0Fort Wayne MSA 1,153* 57.6 125.1 23.1Gary-Hammond 2,056* 35.8 128.8 34.8Indianapolis MSA 5,745 110.5 444.1 105.8Kokomo MSA 524* 11.2 19.8 6.9Lafayette MSA 398* 19.8 37.3 20.9Muncie MSA 322* 7.9 28.7 10.2South Bend MSA 1,168* 19.1 72.3 12.6Terre Haute MSA 333* 10.6 33.6 10.1Michigan 27,448 727.3 2,279.5 597.2Ann Arbor PMSA 1,595* 40.1 132.3 70.4Benton Harbor MSA 290* 15.3 32.5 7.8Detroit PMSA 14,230* 324.6 1,146.6 211.1Flint PMSA 890* 23.9 84.9 20.7Grand Rapids MSA 3,319 132.0 271.3 51.6Jackson MSA 870* 9.5 30.0 10.7Kalamazoo MSA 1,424* 40.2 102.2 27.6Lansing-East Lansing MSA 1,450* 23.4 107.3 64.5Saginaw-Bay City-Midland MSA 816* 24.1 97.4 21.9Ohio 26,428 849.6 2,779.0 755.4Akron PMSA 1,560* 49.2 170.0 44.6Canton MSA 983* 36.0 89.3 20.6Cincinnati PMSA 4,723* 107.7 487.5 103.2Cleveland PMSA 7,259* 167.8 595.1 142.2Columbus MSA 5,787* 75.1 485.8 143.9Dayton-Springfield MSA 2,149* 68.6 233.9 69.5Hamilton-Middletown PMSA 825* 21.0 60.8 18.4Lima MSA 346* 17.1 34.7 10.4Mansfield MSA 286* 19.0 34.3 11.2Steubenville-Weirton MSA 154* 10.9 23.1 6.4Toledo MSA 1,745* 46.8 152.3 43.0Youngstown-Warren MSA 1,009* 37.4 118.9 29.0Wisconsin 13,653 518.9 1,356.5 380.9Appleton-Oshkosh-Neenah MSA 1,206* 52.8 92.3 22.3Eau Claire MSA 347* 10.7 41.6 11.2Green Bay MSA 1,300* 27.4 72.6 16.1Janesville-Beliot MSA 594* 16.1 30.9 8.9Kenosha PMSA 320* 10.4 26.4 8.6La Crosse MSA 320* 9.5 39.6 9.4Madison MSA 1,369* 29.3 145.6 71.0Milwaukee PMSA 4,409 137.3 439.7 84.5Racine PMSA 361* 20.1 36.2 10.6Sheboygan MSA 999* 25.4 23.1 5.9Wausau MSA 401* 18.4 29.8 7.0