Nebraska’s economy should see modest growth in coming months, according to the latest Leading Economic Indicator for Nebraska report.

The indicator, which predicts economic growth six months in advance, rose by 0.95 percent in September, fueled by a significant drop in first-time unemployment claims in Nebraska.

The drop in Nebraska claims follows a national trend.

After showing almost no growth in May through July, the indicator rose, albeit modestly, in August and September.

UNL economist Eric Thompson, director of the Bureau of Business Research in the College of Business Administration, said signals remain mixed about the potential for economic growth.

“Growth in Nebraska is limited by the same factors that are impacting the national economy, such as uncertainty about domestic economic policy and weaker economic growth overseas,” he said.

Produced by UNL’s Department of Economics and the Bureau for Business Research, the Leading Economic Indicator is a composite of six components that predict future economic growth: Single-family building permits, airline passenger counts, initial unemployment claims, manufacturing hours, the value of the U.S. dollar and business expectations gathered from the Survey of Nebraska Business.

Along with the decline in unemployment claims, September saw improvement on a seasonally adjusted basis in building permits and airline passenger counts in Nebraska. However, manufacturing hours and business expectations declined.

The full Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators report and a Technical Report describing the indicators are available at http://www.cba.unl.edu.