Knoxville Chamber’s monthly “ECO Report” offers useful insights on regional economy
By Kailyn Lamb, Marketing Content Writer and Editor, PYA
Starting back in September, the Knoxville Chamber began releasing the “Economic Conditions Outlook” (ECO) reports on the status of the region’s economy. The monthly report is financed by First Horizon Bank and compiles survey answers from businesses in manufacturing, retail, and service, as well as data for the employment, housing, and travel markets.
In the January 2021 report, manufacturing businesses reported that general business activity was “the same” or “improving” from the month before. Businesses in both the retail and service category reported general activity was “the same.” Since the chamber has only been putting these reports together for a few months, the pool of businesses taking the survey is still small. Businesses interested in registering to be a part of the reports can learn more here.
The surveyed businesses said that the COVID-19 vaccine was both an opportunity and a challenge for 2021. As more people become vaccinated, businesses are hoping to return to pre-pandemic levels of business. On the other hand, if the vaccine is not distributed quickly, that timeline can be slowed as we continue into 2021, leading to potential uncertainty in workforce and customer availability, as well as the future of taxes.
Other important trends identified were:
- Unemployment numbers in Knox County increased from November to December, from 4.3 percent to 5.6 percent respectively. Tennessee’s statewide numbers also trended slightly up, as did the national rate. The labor force in Knox County, Tennessee, and the U.S., all showed a slight decrease from November to December.
- In the housing market, existing-home sales in the Knoxville-area jumped up 31 percent from December 2019 to December 2020. Total housing inventory declined 30% last year. The median sales price for a home in Knox County in December was $249,000.
- Knox County collected $59.42 million in sales tax in December, which was up 1.6 percent from the same period in 2019.
- A total of 143 new business licenses were issued in December 2020, compared to 97 the year before. The report says this may be evidence that furloughed workers are taking the opportunity to open businesses during the pandemic.
At the end of the report is some exciting news about Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) funding. Knoxville-area businesses received 12 SBIR awards, which made up 70 percent of the total awards given in the state of Tennessee. All four STTR awards given in Tennessee were given to Knoxville-area businesses.
According to the report, the SBIR grant recipients for 2020 in the Knoxville area are Active Energy Systems, Inc., Analysis and Measurement Services Corporation, CrossLink Composites Inc., Millennitek LLC, MOBIUS PBC, PhDs Co., and Ultrasonic Technology Solutions.
The Knoxville area STTR grant recipients for 2020 are Carbon Rivers LLC, Cryomagnetics Inc., INFISYS Inc., and SkyNano Technologies LLC.
