DeKalb County Growing in GDP

Article by KPC News | KPC Media | December 13, 2019

Indiana’s northeast corner counties all rank in the top half of Indiana counties for gross domestic product, a survey released Thursday shows.

Three of the four corner counties grew in GDP by equal to or greater than the statewide rate of 2% for 2018, and Steuben County outpaced the national growth rate of 2.9%.

All northeast corner counties rank among Indiana’s top 20 in the percentage of their GDP from manufacturing. DeKalb County ranks second overall, with Noble County in fourth.

DeKalb and Noble Counties are at double the state average and five times the national average in their dependence on manufacturing.

“Local GDP growth from 2017 to 2018 was solid in northeast Indiana, with most counties exceeding the state’s growth and some exceeding the nation,” said Rachel Blakeman, director of Purdue University Fort Wayne’s Community Research Institute.

“Manufacturing continues to play an oversized role in local productivity. All northeast Indiana counties’ share of manufacturing GDP exceeded the nation, and only Allen County lagged behind the state’s rate,” Blakeman said, looking at an 11-county region.

In northeast Indiana, three counties (DeKalb, Kosciusko, Noble) had more than half of their GDP come from manufacturing, Blakeman said. Howard County had the highest share of any of the counties reporting data.

“Allen County’s relatively low manufacturing share is a reflection of the diversity of its economy,” Blakeman added.

Total GDP for 2018 in local counties included: DeKalb $2.67 billion (28th in state) up 2%; Noble $1.92 billion (33rd) up 2.8%; LaGrange $1.57 billion (39th) up 1.7%; and Steuben $1.52 billion (44th) up 3.4%.

Percentage of local county GDPs from manufacturing are: DeKalb 57% (ranks 2nd); Noble 56% (ranks 4th); Steuben 44% (ranks 17th); and LaGrange 42% (ranks 19th).

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released the statistics Thursday morning, and Blakeman collated them for northeast Indiana’s 11 counties.

Article source: https://www.kpcnews.com/heraldrepublican/article_1b2660c8-5a68-51a3-bc6b-5758263aa946.html