RIVERSIDE – (INT) – Business activity in the Inland Empire is in positive territory and a new report sees even better times in 2020.

For the second quarter in a row, business activity in the Inland Empire has outperformed the nation as a whole. The new Inland Empire Business Activity Index released Thursday by the UCR School of Business Center for Economic Forecasting and Development shows a jump of 2.3% in the region’s business activity in the third quarter compared to 1.9% growth for U.S. GDP.

On an annual basis, from the third quarter of 2018 to the third quarter of 2019, the region’s business activity growth has been roughly on par with the national growth rate at 1.8% and 2.0%, respectively.

Even brighter days could be ahead in 2020. The latest Index reports that business activity in the Inland Empire is forecast to rise between 1.9% and 2.4% over the next year.

“The near term outlook is also positive with growth continuing into 2020, driven by key local industries such as logistics,” said Christopher Thornberg, Director of the Center for Economic Forecasting and one of the Index authors. “The challenge lies in the longer term, where economic and industry growth will be held back by labor shortages caused by California’s lack of home supply and the unaffordability that creates.”

Story Date: December 5, 2019