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