{"id":49745,"date":"2022-01-18T09:15:30","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T14:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=49745"},"modified":"2022-01-18T09:15:34","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T14:15:34","slug":"ccedc-county-economy-in-terrific-shape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=49745","title":{"rendered":"CCEDC: County economy in ‘terrific’ shape"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cHow are we doing in Chester County when it comes to the economy? Oh baby, we\u2019re doing terrific,\u201d said Patti Brennan as she shared expert insights for 2022 at the Chester County Economic Development Council\u2019s 18th Annual Economic Outlook.<\/p>\n

Brennan, the President and CEO of Key Financial, Inc. who has been named a Hall of Fame Advisor by Dow Jones & Company\u2019s Barron\u2019s, was joined by James Glassman, Managing Director and Head Economist for Commercial Banking at J.P. Morgan Chase. Both were in person as the event was held at Penn State Great Valley for the first time on Friday to accommodate a socially distanced in-person audience, along with those attending virtually.<\/p>\n

Glassman began CCEDC\u2019s must-attend event of the new year by taking a look at U.S. and global markets, noting a prevailing theme: \u201cThere is no reason to freak out. If you\u2019re myopic, you\u2019re missing the boat,\u201d he said. \u201cI came across a strange headline yesterday that we need to take a closer look at history during these unprecedented times. If these are unprecedented times, what does history have to do with it? Inflation, supply chain, workforce shortages \u2013 history doesn\u2019t help us here but the numbers and facts do.\u201d Glassman went on to make the following major points: <\/p>\n

On inflation: \u201cI\u2019m not interested in this topic, and neither are bond investors. It\u2019s only debated on the airwaves, not the markets. When I hear everybody freaking out about paying more for workers, benefits, and training and this is contributing to inflation\u2026 Look at the flip side: Labor pay is increasing but profit margins are also increasing at record levels \u2013 10-13% with no reversion. This is not an inflation story. This is a productivity story, and it\u2019s a great one.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the COVID surge: \u201cEveryone not watching the economy assumes that every time there\u2019s a surge, it hurts the economy. That was the case in the beginning during lockdowns, but it\u2019s a different story now. Last year we had three waves of virus, and the economy grew 5-6% and recovered.\u201d<\/p>\n

On workforce shortages, higher business costs, and supply chain:<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my point of view \u2013 this is music to my ears. When you hear the challenges businesses are dealing with, this is just confirming that the economy is doing a pretty good job recovering. Two years ago, the big news was: Will I make it? Will I survive? These new challenges are happening because people are recovering quite briskly from the pandemic, and people are figuring it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

On China: \u201cChina used to be something you eat on. Now it\u2019s something that\u2019s eating you. Thanks to the internet, now everybody sees how a superpower like the U.S. lives, and they want to develop. This is good news for U.S. companies as we tap into it. The world is our marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long-term: \u201cWhat we care about is whether there\u2019s an issue here that\u2019s going to force the Fed to not just take their foot off the gas, but step on the brakes like back in the 1980s. That is nowhere in the mindset. Fed policy is going to remain accommodative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brennan weighed in on the local economy as well as personal investing.<\/p>\n

On Pennsylvania & Chester County: \u201cPennsylvania overall is a great place to live and work. PA\u2019s growth at 2.2% and personal income growth of 2.8% is slightly better than the U.S. Chester County is the best place to live for job security and income based on unemployment rates and job earnings by industry. But there\u2019s a caveat. It\u2019s expensive to live here. Neighboring counties have the same issue, but we know we have to address it. And we know we really need to focus on accessible health care.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a lot of people don\u2019t realize is the number of innovators and new business owners who are here. And they pay really well. We are attracting more innovators and business owners with the Chester County Economic Development Council, and that can go a long way toward progress on our challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

On workforce: \u201cI hope that when we look back at this period, instead of calling it, \u2018The great attrition\u2019 we call it \u2018the great attraction.\u2019\u00a0We are creating a culture that people want to work in. People leave companies, not people. How do you make those people feel important?\u00a0If you want to retain talent, make them feel important.<\/p>\n

On consumer sentiment: \u201cThere is anxiety about the surge and what it means. It\u2019s more expensive to do stuff \u2013 at the gas pump, home buying. But it\u2019s temporary, and it\u2019s how we\u2019re handling it that\u2019s impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

On personal wealth: \u201cNo question that the top 1% is growing, but for the bottom 50%, growth increased by 74%.\u00a0We have a long way to go, but that\u2019s real progress. The people getting squeezed are in the middle class.\u201d<\/p>\n

On inflation & retirement planning: \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid of some inflation; just plan for it. And it\u2019s really important to visit \u2013 not your retirement plans \u2013 but your plans for retirement. Because that has changed. And it is the best way to be resilient no matter what happens in the world around us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chester County Economic Development Council continues its 2022 programming with the 10th Annual Energy Briefing on February 1, presented by CCEDC\u2019s Smart Energy Initiative. More information is at www.ccedcpa.com.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWith new energy and infrastructure policy affecting more business sectors than ever, this is a must-attend event not only for property and municipal developers, facilities managers and energy professionals \u2013 but for professionals across all industries,\u201d said Gary Smith, President and CEO of the Chester County Economic Development Council.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHow are we doing in Chester County when it comes to the economy? Oh baby, we\u2019re doing terrific,\u201d said Patti Brennan as she shared expert insights for 2022 at the Chester County Economic Development Council\u2019s 18th Annual Economic Outlook. Brennan, the President and CEO of Key Financial, Inc. who has been named a Hall of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[13939,29,14308,7426],"class_list":["post-49745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ccedc","tag-chester-county","tag-economic-outlook","tag-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49745"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49746,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49745\/revisions\/49746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}