COLUMBIA — The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released a report Thursday outlining changes in gross domestic product (GDP) for counties in 2021.
The report found that Boone County experienced a 5.7% increase in overall GDP from 2020 to 2021. Missouri had a 4.6% increase in GDP during that same time period. This means Boone County outperformed the state's change in GDP by 1.1%.
Prior to working as an assistant extension professor at MU, Alan Spell served 20 years at the Missouri Department of Economic Development. He said this new report is a "positive."
According to Spell, GDP is essentially an indicator of overall wealth. He said it's the universal measure of economic "well-being" for the U.S. and the world.
"It translates to all the wealth in our economy," Spell said. "... It's basically all the wages, all the profits, all the rents that we receive over the year for the things that we sell, and that's goods or services."
After he looked at the numbers, he said a few key sectors stood out to him when he analyzed the percent change in real GDP for Boone County in chained dollars. Chained dollars are used to represent real dollar amounts that are controlled for inflation.
"Finance, insurance and real estate went up 9%, which isn't as big a percentage, but it's 31% of our private sector economy," Spell said.
Spell also said the arts entertainment recreation accommodation and food services sector saw a significant increase.
"So in 2019 to 2020, it declined by nearly 20%," Spell said. "And, then the next year, it's up by 24%."
Although the significant dip can be explained by COVID-19 lockdowns, Spell said some of the growth can be explained by Columbia's offerings.
"That increase in arts and [recreation] is also not surprising, because Columbia is a big draw for regional and larger tourism," Spell said.
Overall, Spell said he's not surprised that Boone County is seeing positive growth.
"We have large anchor institutions, with the university, with other colleges and with big insurance and banking here," Spell said. "So, those are more stable industries to begin with."