Mid America Regional Council expects the local economy to return to pre-recession levels by 2014

Photographer: KSHB
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Posted: 09/28/2011

By: Sloane Heller

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - Kansas City is still behind the rest of the country when it comes to economic recovery but the Mid America Regional Council (MARC) expects growth of the next three years.

Frank Lenk of MARC told a crowd of business leaders Wednesday morning at the Hyatt Crown Center that the local economy should start to bounce back next year.

He said the regional lost 100,000 jobs during the recession, gained 8,000 back this year. Lenk says the best case scenario for next year would be an additional 20,000 new jobs. MARC expects health, business and technical services sectors to grow the fastest.

The CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Dr. Tom Hoenig, also weighed in on the state of our economy at the Chamber of Commerce meeting. He Hoenig said the Earnings Tax should be a temporary fix as it was originally meant to be.