KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City's regional economy appears to be headed for a mild recession beginning in 2023, according to a forecast prepared by the Mid-America Regional Council's Research Services.
MARC Research Services reported that the expected recession mainly will be due to the rapid rise in interest rates set by the Federal Reserve System.
The recession is expected to result in the loss of about 15,000 jobs over the course of the year and will impact the construction industry the most, according to MARC Research Services.
However, forecasts also show that the construction industry will rebound the quickest in 2024.
As a result, a full recovery from jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to be postponed until sometime in 2026 with the looming recession.
Employers in the Kansas City area are likely to continue to scramble to find workers during the recession as the baby-boom generation ages out of the workforce and immigration levels remain historically low, according to the forecast.
Investments in the Kansas City area such as hosting the 2023 NFL Draft and 2026 World Cup, building a single terminal at Kansas City International Airport, a Panasonic battery plant in De Soto, the possibility of a downtown baseball stadium and extending the KC Streetcar all have the potential to restructure the area's economy.
—
