The director of the University of Kentucky Center for Business and Economic Research says Lexington’s economy seems to be weathering coronavirus as best as can be expected.
Michael Clark offered a yearly report on his findings before a Lexington council committee this week. Clark said the region’s economy dipped significantly during 2020, but did rebound some. “One thing I do want to mention about where we stand now, although you kind of see the decline of ten percent and the bounce back of nine percent. We are still about three percent down below where we were prior to the pandemic. Although we have recovered quite a bit, we still have a ways to go in terms of the recovery,” said Clark.
Clark noted the city’s occupational tax revenues, which it relies on heavily, have been fairly resilient over the past ten months. While the city’s leisure industry has experienced serious down time, the UK economist said the numbers show some increase in employment. While job losses happened in Lexington, Clark said the impact on tax revenues for the city hasn’t been major. “Where we saw job losses, tended to be lower paid workers. And so, the impact on your tax base is probably relatively small as a result of that. So, a lot of workers, relatively small amount of wages and were subject to your occupational license tax,” said Clark.
The UK economist said the speed of recovery will be tied to vaccination rates, the re-opening of schools and day cares, and consumer confidence.?
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