Kansas economy reflects world economy, says WSU economist

The Kansas economy is not insulated from the rest of the world, in fact, it is enhanced by it, according to a Wichita State University economist.

“It’s really more driven by global issues in oil or global issues in trade, because of the commodities that we have here,” said WSU economist Jeremy Hill. “Following the core sectors of agriculture and oil and manufacturing really tells the deeper story of where we are.”

Those strong sectors are why Kansas is expanding.

“Manufacturing’s doing well,” said Hill. “We’re exporting more and so that is driving a lot of the economies across the state, including Topeka and Wichita, the manufacturing base is really propping those economies up.”

Wichita’s aerospace industry is booming.

“Textron is trying to add more jobs,” said Hill. “Spirit was adding more jobs before the 737 issue, but we need to put that in context. Demand for commercial aviation is not going away. There is still a lot of demand out there.”

Since Spirit also helps with Airbus and other products, it is still positioned for growth, even as Boeing figures out what is going on with the 737 MAX.