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Economic Development

News &Vıews
Published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Consumer and Community Affairs Division

Volume 5 Number 1
March 1999
Inside this Issue:

“Y2K” Bug Deadline is Just
274 Days Away
Summit for Businesswomen Set
Finance
Empowerment Zone Resource
Center Opens
Detroit Economic Development
1998 SBA Achievements
PRO-Net Increases Markets
Y2K Sources of Help
ECOA and Small Business
and Farm Lending
Consortium Surpasses Goals
Rural Empowerment Zone
Video on Women-Owned
Businesses
Lending to Minority Firms
From Our Research
Department

Federal Regulators
and SBA Launch
SBIC Outreach
Program
America’s inner cities and rural communities remain investment frontiers, often
underserved by financial institutions and
venture capitalists. Yet these areas are
rich in talent, energy and potential.
Given adequate capital and sound guidance, they can flourish and offer investors a
chance to build new lines of business from the
ground up in low competition environments.
An important potential source of this capital is the Small Business
Investment Company (SBIC). SBICs, licensed and regulated by the
SBA, are privately-owned and privately- managed investment firms
that use their own capital, plus funds acquired with SBA guarantees,
to make investments in small businesses. SBICs provide risk capital in
the form of long-term debt and equity financing to small businesses
for their growth, modernization or expansion.
You can learn more about the benefits of the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) Program by attending one of a series of workshops to be held throughout the country this spring. The program
will cover how SBIC partnerships combining SBA programs and private sector investors can be used to provide equity-type capital to
meet the growth needs of small businesses.

continued on page 2

Outreach Program continued from page 1
Over the past 40 years, those
partnerships have provided more
than $20 billion in financing to
small businesses and have helped
create hundreds of thousands of
jobs. Nevertheless, many worthy
businesses and individuals, particularly in urban and rural communities, are not aware of the
resources available to them
through this program. These
workshops are designed to
heighten awareness of the SBIC
to potential borrowers.

■ Michael H. Moskow,
President
Federal Reserve Bank
of Chicago

How SBICs Pioneer Success
The Small Business Investment
Company Program is a unique
public/private partnership
through which the SBA supplements the funds provided by private venture capital investment
firms. The supplemental funds—
or leverage— provided through
SBA guarantees, may equal two
to three times the invested private capital. As long as SBICs
operate within the regulations
under which the SBA licenses
them, their private owners and
managers who make all investment decisions control them.

■ John D. Hawke, Jr.,
Comptroller of the Currency

Building New Markets on
the Financial Frontier
The SBA’s Small Business Investment Company Program staff is
conducting six, one-day workshops on the capital needs of
inner cities and rural communities. Bankers, venture capitalists
and representatives from community development groups will
learn how the SBIC Program can
help them push back the financial frontier and establish profitable new markets.
Keynote speakers at the various
workshops include:

■ Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.,
Chairman and CEO
Rainbow Coalition/
Operation PUSH
Wall Street Project, Founder
■ Aida Alvarez, Administrator
U.S. Small Business
Administration

■ Fred Hochberg,
Deputy Administrator
U.S. Small Business
Administration

When and Where Where
Workshops Will Be Held
March 23, 1999
The Ambassador West
Chicago, IL.
Register by: March 9
April 6, 1999
The Ritz-Carlton
Kansas City, MO
Register by March 23
April 12, 1999
Grand Hyatt
New York, NY.
Register by: March 29
May 6, 1999
Hyatt Regency
Atlanta, GA.
Register by: April 22

May 17, 1999
Sheraton Grand
Dallas, TX.
Register by: May 3
June 2, 1999
Hyatt Regency
San Francisco, CA.
Register by: May 19
To register, please contact 1-877-REGISTA, or 1-800-734-9496, both tollfree numbers.

For more information regarding the
SBIC Program or workshops visit the
U.S. Small Business Administration
Web Site at: www.sba.gov/inv or call
the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
at 800/333-0894 ext. 8232.

■ Ellen Seidman, Director
Office of Thrift Supervision
■ Jesse L. White,
Federal Co-Chairman
Appalachian Regional
Commission

Workshop attendees will learn
about the SBIC program and
how it can open doors of opportunity and contribute to the economic health of this country. It is
hoped that as a result of the outreach workshops new SBICs will
be formed. The new SBICs could
reach businesses in “new markets” that potentially could qualify for SBIC assistance.
The workshops are sponsored
by the Federal Reserve Banks
of Chicago, Kansas City,
New York, Atlanta, Dallas,
and San Francisco; and the
FDIC, OCC, OTS, and the U.S.
Small Business Administration. ■

Communications
Advisors: Alicia Williams
Robert Mau
Editor: Harry Pestine

Economic Development News & Views welcomes story ideas, suggestions, and letters from subscribers, lenders, community organizations, and economic development professionals. If you wish to
subscribe or to submit comments, call 312/322-8232 or write to:
Economic Development News & Views
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Consumer & Community Affairs Division
230 S. LaSalle Street
Chicago, Illinois 60604-1413.
The material in News & Views does not necessarily represent
the official policy or views of the Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System or the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Economic Development News & Views – ISSN: #1083-1657

2

“Y2K” BUG DEADLINE IS JUST 274 DAYS AWAY

New SBA ‘Fax-Back’ Service
Can Help With Y2K Woes
As of April 1, 1999, there are
just 274 days left until January 1,
2000, when small business owners, along with millions of other
Americans, will learn if they’ve
taken adequate steps to deal with
the Year 2000 computer bug.
According to the Small Business
Administration (SBA), the clock
is ticking and small business
owners can’t afford to delay
their Y2K preparations. To
lessen the impact of the Y2K
problem, the SBA announced a
new “fax-back” service that gives
small business owners and the
public a new and easy way to
gain Y2K information.

It’s easy to use SBA’s Y2K
fax-back:
1. Call toll-free:
877-RU-Y2K-OK
(877-789-2565).
2. Make your selection from
a menu.
3. Within minutes, you’ll
receive a fax targeted to
your specific Y2K needs.
SBA’s Y2K fax-back can be used
on touch-tone or rotary dial telephones and is available 24 hours
a day. It supplements SBA’s other Y2K information resources.
These include a Y2K Internet
home page at www.sba.gov/y2k/
and SBA’s toll-free Answer Desk
at 800-U-ASK-SBA (800-827-5722).
Answer Desk staff will route
callers to the best sources of
Y2K information.

In a nationwide outreach campaign to small business owners,
the SBA is stressing the importance of assessing every company’s vulnerability to Y2K-related
problems. Addressing Y2K problems early, testing to verify fixes,
and building contingency plans
to deal with unexpected glitches
are critical steps to avoiding
larger problems when the
deadline arrives.
“As a small business owner, you
should view Y2K as a business
and management issue, just like
a host of other issues you face
every day,” said SBA Deputy
Administrator Fred
Hochberg.“SBA’s Y2K fax-back is
one more way SBA can help you
land feet first in the 21st century
on January 1, 2000.”

In dealing with Y2K, the
SBA urges small business
owners to take three
immediate steps:
1. Determine your business’
Y2K risk with affected hardware, software or embedded data chips. A selfassessment test is available
on the SBA’s Internet Y2K
web page www.sba.gov/y2k/.
2. If you are vulnerable, take
action now. Don’t wait. Fix
your problem and test the
results. Develop contingency plans to deal with
the effects of Y2K problems
outside your control.
3. Stay informed. Accurate
information may change
as solutions evolve.

Summit for Businesswomen Set for Toronto
is still growing. Canada imports
from the U.S. more than all
countries in the European
Union combined.

The Small Business
Administration’s
inaugural U.S.Canada Businesswomen’s Trade Summit will be
from May 17 through 21, 1999,
in Toronto.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce
William Daley and SBA Administrator Aida Alvarez will chair the
summit. Officials hope the meeting will provide an excellent
opportunity for U.S. businesses
to expand into the Canadian
marketplace.
Canada is the United States’
largest and most receptive

export market worldwide. Trade
between the two countries has
more than doubled since the
free trade agreement was implemented in 1989. Trade totals
more than $1 billion per day and

On the first day of the summit,
delegates will discuss public policy and make recommendations
on what is needed to help
women do more business across
the border. The remaining days
will be devoted to networking,
one-on-one business meetings,
off-site visits, workshops and a
trade show.

Woman-owned businesses in the
following fields are being sought
to participate: information technology and telecommunications;
biotechnology, medical and
healthcare; business, professional and educational services; consumer products; and agriculture
and food products. ■
For additional information contact
the U.S. Small Business Administration, Illinois District Office,
500 W. Madison St., Suite 1250,
Chicago, Ill. 60661-2511,
(312) 353-4528

An estimated 300 women are
expected to participate, half
from each country.

3

Finance
State Enterprise Zone
Financing Program
To promote economic development
within Illinois’ State
Enterprise Zones,
the Illinois Department of Commerce
and Community Affairs (DCCA)
implemented the Enterprise
Zone Financing Program last
year.
This financing mechanism,
which is a derivative of the Participation Loan Program (PLP),
is designed to encourage businesses to locate within an Illinois
Enterprise Zone. There are 91
Enterprise Zones designated
statewide including three Enterprise Zones that have been certified under the Quad Cities

Regional Economic Development Authority, the Southwestern Illinois Economic Development Authority, and the Upper
Illinois River Valley Development Authority Acts.
The program has been successful. Seven projects totaling more
than $10,023,970 have been
funded in just three months.
The program works through participating financial institutions.
The institution providing the
loan must enter into a Master
Participation Agreement, outlining all terms and conditions of
participation between the financial institution and the DCCA.
DCCA’s term matches that of the
participating bank, but DCCA
funds cannot be amortized
longer than 10 years unless there

is a balloon payment provision.
Enterprise Zone administrators
must verify that the business project is located in the Enterprise
Zone for the business to be eligible for this program’s incentive
rate financing.
Key Program Features
• Most industries can participate in the program.
• Any for-profit entity located in
an Illinois Enterprise Zone, that
is not dominant in its field, or
that has fewer than 500 employees is eligible.
• DCCA’s participation can be
between $10,000 and $750,000,
but cannot exceed 25 percent of
the total project.

• DCCA’s rate is 200 basis
points below the prime rate
(as published in the Wall Street
Journal) but not less than
3 percent.
• DCCA will allow the participating financial institution to
retain 50 basis points to cover
the costs of servicing the loan,
or it may elect to pass along the
50 basis points to the borrower.
• There will be no subordination fee on DCCA’s portion of
the financing. ■
For additional information on the
Enterprise Zone Financing Program
or any of DCCA’s Financing Programs contact the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community
Affairs at 312/814-2301, 217/7856328, or 618/993-7270.

Empowerment Zone Resource Center Opens
Chicago’s Empowerment Zone
Resource Center (EZRC) has
opened its doors in a temporary
location in the Small Business
Administration office at 500 W.
Madison St., Suite 1250, Chicago.
The EZRC will be moved to the
One Stop Capital Shop location
in the Chicago Empowerment
Zone at a future date.
“This is the first stop in meeting
our commitment to the Empowerment Zone Communities of
Chicago,” said Anthony J. McMahon, the SBA's acting Illinois district director.

4

Empowerment zones were created nationally to enhance community development in lowincome areas. The program
includes revitalization efforts in
important areas such as housing,
education, crime prevention and
economic development. There
are three clusters in the Chicago
Empowerment Zone: the West
and South sides, and one in
Pilsen-Little Village.
The Chicago EZRC is one of
many empowerment zone centers in the United States. “The
EZRC will assist entrepreneurs
and community development

organizations by supplying all
necessary resources in one place
to foster growth, expansion, access to capital and job creation,”
McMahon said.
“Such program activities have
important implications for
Welfare-to-Work and Welfareto- Self-Employment efforts. We
at the SBA are enthusiastic about
working with the State of Illinois
Department of Commerce and
Community Affairs and the City
of Chicago to advance these
important initiatives.”
The EZRC will feature local busi-

ness-development service
providers, including the Small
Business Development Center
network in combination with the
EZRC staff. Specialists in business counseling and loan packaging will be available along with a
wide variety of resources in the
SBA's high-tech, on-site Business
Information Center. Free counseling by the Service Corps of
Retired Executives will also be
available. ■
For more information on the EZRC,
call Paul Gibson at the SBA’s
Illinois District Office,
(312) 353-5125.

Detroit Web Site Encourages Economic Development

George W. Jackson, Jr.
Detroit Edison

By: George W. Jackson, Jr.
Detroit Edison
Economic Development &
Ethnic Marketing, Manager
Companies from their home
offices in Japan, Germany and
Britain who are interested in
doing business in Southeast
Michigan have toured potential
buildings and land locations by
using Detroit Edison’s economic
development, web site.
After nearly two years in operation, the site is garnering 5,900
“hits” per week — all through
special short-term passwords
available from the utility’s economic development team. But
that number will likely grow as
the company aligns with the
Michigan Jobs Commission and
the Michigan Economic Development Association to form the
Michigan Site Network.
The Site Selection Service initially used data from commercial
real estate firms to feature 800
sites in a 13-county area. The
number of sites expanded to
3,100, but since Dec. 16, the site
has expanded to include the
entire state and 7,100 sites.

The site has saved hours of physical travel and given developers
all over the world basic property
information at their fingertips.
Because it combines aerial photos with geographic information,
this tool allows developers to see
photos and maps of properties,
as well as site data.

opers, municipalities and companies are the primary users. With
the expansion of the site statewide, it will greatly increase the
ability for Detroit Edison to market itself. Furthermore, with deregulation around the corner, it
will provide prospective customers
with another value-added service.

The Site Selection Service allows
developers to input their specifications to instantly find locations
that may fit their needs. Detroit

In addition to the Michigan
Site Network, Detroit Edison
will soon offer a business climate database, which will

Detroit Edison’s Economic
Development team provides
developers with the tools
they need to go from planning to groundbreaking...
Edison enhanced Intergraph’s
GeoMedia Web Map with aerial
photographs, maps and infrastructure information to create
an interactive database. The site
also has links to labor statistics
and community profiles.
The site also now includes
detailed information about
Detroit’s Renaissance and
Empowerment Zones, brownfields and wetlands; however, it
can only be accessed by contacting the economic development
team for a special, short-term
password.
Brokers, realtors and chamber of
commerce officials have spread
word of the site. Economic devel-

Detroit Edison’s Economic
Development and Ethnic Marketing program has a 25-member
staff and is the largest private sector group of its kind in Michigan.
Its regional and subject matter
specialists can guide clients in
major market segments, including petrochemicals, plastics,
agribusiness, automotive,
research and development,
printing and publishing. ■
Detroit Edison, Michigan’s largest
electric utility, serves more than 2
million customers in Southeastern
Michigan. It is the principal operating subsidiary of DTE Energy Co., a
diversified energy company involved
in the development and management
of energy-related businesses and services nationwide.
For more information about Detroit
Edison’s economic development team,
call (800) 845-0320. Detroit
Edison’s Web site address is
http://www.detroit edison.com .

provide a county-by-county
breakdown of business costs,
community profiles and labor
market information throughout
the state. The database will
compare business costs for
locations in Michigan, other
states, and Ontario, Canada.
Detroit Edison’s Economic
Development team provides
developers with the tools they
need to go from planning to
groundbreaking. The team will
help developers make appropriate community contacts, provide
physical property tours and
guide them through the site
approval process with local governmental units.

5

1998 SBA Achievements Boost Efforts for 1999

By Peter W. Barca,
Midwest Regional Administrator
U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) helped tens of
thousands of Americans start or
expand their small businesses.
“This record reflects our government’s ongoing commitment to a
growing economy and its awareness that small businesses make
up the sturdy foundation for that
growth. Since the end of Fiscal
Year 1992, the SBA has backed
more loans to small businesses
than was accomplished in the
previous 12 years combined,”
Administrator Alvarez said.
1998 Results
For 1998, the SBA approved
42,268 loan guaranties amounting to $9.02 billion in the 7(a)
General Business Loan Guaranty
program and 4,930 loans worth
$1.78 billion under the Certified
Development Company (CDC)
504 loan program. The combined dollar amount of $10.8 billion is exceeded only by the previous mark of $10.9 billion set in
1997. In FY98, the SBA’s Midwest
Region, encompassing Illinois,
Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota,
Ohio, and Wisconsin, approved
5,562 7(a) loans for $1.079 billion and 858 CDC loans for $304
million for a combined dollar
amount of $1.383 billion, exceed-

ed only by the $1.445 billion
combined dollar amount
achieved in FY96. These are
accomplishments we can all be
proud of. By making our assistance more available to those
firms that need it, we are taking a
major step forward to position
the SBA and the nation’s entire
small business community for the
new economy of the 21st century;
we have a great story to tell.
“New Markets”
The SBA’s achievements are evidence that a rising tide lifts all
boats. Most exciting is our
progress toward
realizing our
three-year goal
of providing
greater
assistance
to “New Markets,”
those
small businesses with
financing needs
that are often not
met in the commercial marketplace. Last year, we identified a
real opportunity gap in the market for minorities and women,
both in terms of the economy
and demographics of 21st century America and also in terms of
what our customers told us that
they need. The SBA attempts to
parallel what is occurring in the
private sector. The “New Markets
Initiative” outreach effort is helping the SBA keep pace with the
changing face of American small
business. The latest Census
Bureau figures show that the
number of businesses owned by
Hispanics grew by 83 percent
over the last five years, and businesses owned by African-Americans grew by 46 percent. This

compares to a 26 percent growth
rate for all businesses during this
period. Meanwhile, by the year
2005 there will be about 4.7 million self-employed women. This
is an increase of 77 percent since
1983, compared to a 6 percent
increase in the number of selfemployed men.
Partnerships are Key
The best way to promote economic empowerment among

underserved groups is to support
the development of small businesses in their communities. The
SBA can serve a broader crosssection of America’s small businesses, but it will require a significant increase in SBA’s marketing
and outreach activities. The
agency has set aggressive outreach goals for loans to minorityand women-owned businesses. It
is taking the message of entrepreneurship to a much wider audience and giving entrepreneurs
the capital tools necessary to
finance success.
Rural & Minority Outreach
Over the past year, we have established a strong foundation and

forged partnerships with lender
groups and national and local
community organizations that
will help us reach all of our customers. We have recently reinvented loan products that are
going to be especially helpful for
start up, minority, and women
entrepreneurs as well as others
lacking full access to traditional
loan markets, such as rural Americans, veterans, people living in
distressed urban areas, and firms
engaged in exporting.
Opportunities for Lenders
Banks have discovered small business as the engine that drives
economic growth and a source of
new customers. You can see it in
the ads they target to small business. In addition, the economy
has been doing so well that many
banks are now making loans
themselves, particularly smaller
loans, that in the past they would
not have made without the SBA
guarantee. Many have even modeled new small business loan
products after SBA’s. While we at
the SBA are pleased that banks
are lending to small businesses,
there is still an “opportunity gap”
for “New Markets” customers.
For example, African-Americans
represent 12.7% of the population but only 3.6% of all businesses. Hispanics represent 10.9% of
the population but own only
4.5% of all businesses. Womenowned businesses have been
increasing steadily, and more
rapidly than other businesses –
growing 89% over the last
decade, with revenues increasing
an astonishing 209% over the
same period. Despite owning
about one third of all American
businesses, women still face difficulties getting credit and capital.

continued on page 7
6

1998 SBA Achievements
We have laid the foundation to
help many more small businesses
and entrepreneurs in the coming years. We have spent the past
year forming new partnerships at
the national and local levels with
groups such as the NAACP, US
Hispanic Chamber, National
Black Chamber, Urban League,
NAWBO, and others in order to
raise our agency’s visibility. Our
experience this past year has
shown us that these “New Markets” communities need smaller
loans and revolving lines of credit. We are excited about having
our enhanced loan products,
SBALowDoc, SBAExpress, PreQualification, and our MicroLoan
program, available to serve our
borrowers and lenders. We know
from a series of forums we held
around the country last year that
the revolving credit line that
SBAExpress offers is important
to women.
Additional SBA Participants
We have signed agreements with
the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders
(NAGGL), representing the 700
participating lenders that origi-

continued from page 6

nate upwards of 75 percent of
SBA-7 (a) guaranteed loans and
the National Association of
Development Companies (NADCO), representing the 300 economic development corporations that originate SBA 504
loans. We will work aggressively
with NAGGL, NADCO,
and other partners to
develop better ways to
provide training and
education and to make
sure the borrowers and
lenders who could most
benefit from our programs and services learn
about the assistance we
have to offer.
Given all this, we are
confident that we are
on track to significantly
increase access to capital for SBA’s “New Markets” by the Year 2000. With the
private sector undergoing significant re-structuring, it has
expressed strong support for the
SBA’s efforts. In a very real sense,
we are taking the SBA to a different level. That’s what the “New
Markets” Initiative is all about. But
there is more work to be done.

SBA Question and Answer
Q. What is a startup business?
A. For purposes of financing,
startup businesses include
those that are about to open
their doors, as well as those that
have been operating for 18
months. In fact, many lenders
will consider any business operated less than three years to be
a startup.
Startup businesses are unique
because they lack a track
record that allows lenders to
evaluate the management, sales

and financial strengths of the
business. A strong, successful
business with a track record
allows potential lenders or
investors to make a reasoned
decision before committing
funds.
If you are buying a business or
franchise, you will be considered a startup, but the track
record of the existing business
or franchise could be an advantage in negotiating financing.

We will continue to forge a
strong connection between management, technical assistance,
and financial assistance, in an
effort to make each individual
loan more successful. The SBA
and its resource partners provide
a spectrum of free counseling,

reasonable-cost training, and
other management and technical
assistance to pre-business, startup, and existing entrepreneurs.
SBA is there to assist the nation’s
23.5 million small businesses in
overcoming problems or taking
advantage of opportunities.
In another unprecedented partnership agreement, Ford, GM,
and Chrysler all agreed to focus
their efforts on 8(a) companies,
and bring those companies into
their supplier base. The payoff
will be more business for more
minority suppliers and more jobs
and dollars in the communities
where those suppliers are located.
Last year, Administrator Alvarez
announced the final version of
the package of reforms that will
strengthen and improve the 8(a)
program, which has proven its value time and time again.

on behalf of the Welfare- to-Work
initiative. Administrator Alvarez
joined Vice President Gore in a
town meeting in Washington to
identify ways small businesses can
benefit from hiring welfare workers — including tax credits and
wage subsidies. The SBA made a
pledge to facilitate helping small
businesses to hire 200,000 people off of public assistance by the
Year 2000. We are pleased to
announce that in 1998, nearly 80
percent of our district offices
nationally and over 85% of our
district offices regionally have
exceeded their goals, placing the
overall national total at over
102,000, with a regional total
approaching 18,800.
Finally, the SBA has become
the leading agency in the government’s effort to convince
Americans – particularly small
businesses – to deal with the socalled Y2K bug. We have moved
from running a simple, no-frills
awareness effort to a fully equipped, state-of-the-art action program with practical instructions
and seminars all over the country. Our Y2K Action Week last
October and the hundreds of
events that will continue over
the coming months are a tremendous step forward in helping small businesses become
Y2K OK.
So there you have it. Those were
the SBA’s highlights for 1998. It
was a great year. We expect 1999
will be an even better one. ■
Contact the SBA at 1-800-U-ASKSBA, or http://www.sba.gov to learn
about the SBA’s programs and services or for further information about
your local SBA offices and resources.

Another important initiative that
has paid dividends is our effort

7

1998 SBA Accomplishments in Illinois
Welfare-to-Work initiative, resulting in the second largest
response in the nation.
SBA staff was out in the field
more, interacting with our service
providers and meeting with small
business owners to assess their
needs and see how the SBA can
help them meet their challenges.
By Anthony J. McMahon
Acting Illinois District Director
U.S. Small Business
Administration

The SBA’s Illinois District Office
and Springfield Branch Office
had a significant impact on the
small business community in
Illinois in 1998.
The SBA and its resource partners — Illinois Small Business
Development Centers, the Service Corps of Retired Executives,
U.S. Export Assistance Center
and the Business Information
Center — have assisted thousands of Illinois small businesses
with access to capital and management and educational assistance. Obtaining the money is
important; however, learning to
manage that money is what
ensures success.
Additionally, the SBA entered
the field of electronic commerce
by implementing new uses of
technology to create new SBA
services, improve current services, and reach millions of
entrepreneurs. The SBA
strengthened its minority business development and established a regulatory fairness program for small businesses, and
assumed a leadership role in the

Much of the success this agency
achieved in Illinois is not quantifiable in loan figures. Our
offices’ contributions to marketing and business development
provide a significant benefit to
the small business community.
In 1999, we look forward to a bigger and better lending year,
increased marketing and outreach, more field visits, and more
support for what we call “new markets:” those previously underserved groups including minorities, women and distressed urban
and rural communities.

was enhanced in 1998 to
increase the availability of
loans under $150,000. Also,
SBA streamlined the loan
review process. Under this program, the lender submits a
one-page application that is
usually processed within 36
hours. The SBA relies heavily
on the strength of the business
owner’s character and credit
history to determine the owner’s ability to repay the loan.
SBAExpress enables lenders to use
their existing documentation and
procedures to approve and service loans to $150,000. The SBA
may guarantee up to 50 percent
of a SBAExpress loan. The program expedites the lending
process. It is being used on a limited basis in Illinois by the 30 SBA
preferred lenders in the state.
We believe that the best way to
promote economic empower-

We intend to build on our base
as the second-highest volume
SBA district in the nation for
loans to African-Americans.
Last year the SBA identified an
opportunity gap in the smallbusiness markets for minorities
and women. We listened to what
our customers told us, and we
did our homework on America’s
changing economy and demographics.
New Products
The Agency introduced two new
products to address the needs of
new market businesses: SBALowDoc and SBAExpress.
SBALowDoc, the Agency’s most
widely used lending program,

Illinois 1998 Results
The Illinois District Office and
Springfield Branch Office
approved a total of 1,257 loans
with a value of $281.2 million last
year. Of that total, 1,117 were
7(a) General Business Loan
Guaranty loans totaling $226.3
million. There were 503 LowDoc
loans for $31.7 million.
In Illinois, the SBA approved 140
loans in the Certified Development Company 504 Loan Program totaling $54.8 million. These
loans created 3,911 jobs in the
state. The existing job total for the
504 Program was 5,235. The 504
Program total project amount was
$135 million, including debenture
bond financing, owner equity and
first mortgage financing.
In the Export Working Capital
Program (EWCP), the SBA’s Illinois offices approved 20 loans in
1998 totaling $6.2 million. These
loans will help to generate an
additional $10 to $15 million in
export sales.
Preferred Loan Program (PLP)
lenders approved 290 loans totaling $99 million, compared with
loans totaling $92.4 million in
the previous fiscal year.

ment is to contribute to the
development of small businesses
among new market entrepreneurs. The SBA, including its Illinois District and Springfield
Branch offices, has set aggressive
outreach goals for loans to
minority and women-owned businesses. We’ve done very well but
we want to do even better.
A key weapon in the SBA’s arsenal for assisting small businesses
is the Agency’s various guaranteed loan programs.

The overall impact of the regular
lending programs and the 504
economic development programs was to bring economic
stimulation to the state of Illinois, financing business projects
totaling more than of $361 million. These projects created
6,281 new jobs and had an
impact on the stability of 9,542
existing jobs for a total 15,823
jobs affected.

continued on page 9
8

1998 SBA Accomplishments in Illinois
Focus on New Markets
The SBA’s Illinois offices have
been active in reaching out to
new markets. These efforts
include SBA community service
awards to lending institutions
that have excelled in loans to
Hispanic, African-American and
Asian-American small businesses.
We have also signed agreements,
called memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with nonprofit
groups and government agencies
to work together to increase
lending and developmental assistance to targeted groups.

continued from page 8

MOUs were signed by the SBA,
the Latin American Chamber of
Commerce, the Asian-American
Alliance, the Cosmopolitan
Chamber of Commerce, Chicago
Urban League, the Continental
African Chamber of Commerce,
the U.S. Agriculture Department, and the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Statistics show that the SBA is
having nearly twice the impact
on small businesses in the U.S. as
it did in 1992, with a smaller budget and a 25 percent smaller
staff. The SBA’s Illinois offices

are doing more with less by
extending efforts to work with
other organizations to assist
entrepreneurs.
The SBA in Illinois will continue
to forge strong links between
management, technical and
financial assistance in an effort
to make the most of each individual loan to an entrepreneur.
We will continue our outreach
efforts, working with our
resource partners to provide
guaranteed loans, along with
a wide variety of free counsel-

ing, low-cost training and other management assistance to
U.S. entrepreneurs — the
engine that makes the American economy go. ■
For information on the SBA’s many
programs, services and initiatives,
call the SBA’s Illinois District Office
at (312) 353-4528. Additional
information about the Agency is
available at its Web site www.sba.gov
or at the SBA’s toll-free Answer Desk
at (800) 827-5722.

Increasing Markets Through PRO-Net
An estimated 22 percent of those
purchases go to small businesses.
Of those, 42 percent are through
a first- tier subcontract.

procurements a price evaluation
adjustment of up to 10 percent
for contracts in industries that
reflect what the government

The PRO-Net system contains
profiles of more than 177,000
small businesses nationwide,
including disadvantaged, 8(a)
certified and woman-owned
firms. There are 7,000 Illinois
small businesses in the database.

McMahon explained that one of
the workshop goals was to “familiarize the public with marketing
tools in the general business arena.” In addition to PRO-Net, other programs discussed at the
workshop included:

deems the effects of previous discrimination.

According to McMahon, the U.S.
government is the largest consumer in the world, with annual
purchases totaling $200 billion.

• The new Small Disadvantaged

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently held government contracting workshops
on PRO-Net, its procurement
information network.
PRO-Net is an interactive, electronic database of federal government procurement information designed to bring together
small businesses and federal procurement officers. “PRO-Net is a
virtual one-stop procurement
shop for government contracting,” said Anthony J. McMahon,
the SBA's acting Illinois district
director.

Business (SDB) program —

The federal government provides SDBs seeking prime federal

• The HUBZone program—
The federal contracting opportunities program targets certain
qualified small businesses, that
are located in distressed communities, in an effort to promote
private sector investments and
employment opportunities in
these communities.

• Recent changes in the 8(a)
program — The SBA has
improved this program, which
assists the development of small
firms owned and operated by
people who are both socially and
economically disadvantaged.
The changes include creating a
mentor-protege program,
enhancing the ability of small
business to obtain large prime
contracts, providing more equitable distribution of 8(a) contracting opportunities and revising the standard for social
disadvantage. ■
There are PRO-Net access partners
throughout the nation. In the five
states served by the Federal Reserve
Bank of Chicago, there are 26 access
locations. For the access location
nearest you or for additional information, contact the Small Business
Administration at 800/827-5722.

9

Small Business and the Year 2000
How will it impact your firm,
business suppliers and other
business partners?
The inability of many computer
systems to process dates beyond
December 31, 1999, commonly
known as the Year 2000 problem,
seems like a bad joke.
However, the Year 2000 problem
is a huge issue, locally, nationally,
and even globally, and it poses
unique challenges for the small
business owner. The problem
exists because dates are encoded
in a YYMMDD six-digit format
rather than a YYYYMMDD eightdigit format. Unfortunately, the
six-digit date field doesn’t differentiate between the 20th and
21st century. That could cause
significant problems in computer systems that process date-sensitive information and calculations.
To assist small businesses in
understanding the myriad
aspects of the problem, the Fed
recently released Small Business
and the Year 2000. The pamphlet–
available through the San Francisco Fed’s web site at http://

www.frbsf.org/fiservices/cdc and
in hard copy from the Federal
Reserve Bank of Chicago -defines the Year 2000 problem
and discusses steps small business
owners can take to begin
addressing the problem.
The pamphlet provides additional information on maintaining
small business information systems in a Year 2000 compliant
manner, contingency planning,
and useful reference materials
is also provided. A five-phase
framework (see chart below) is
suggested to manage small businesses’ Year 2000 approach. If you
need to increase your knowledge
about the Year 2000 problem,
you’ll want to get your hands on
this informative publication
soon. After all, the Year 2000
will come whether you’re ready
or not. ■

For more information, contact the
SBA at (800) U-ASK-SBA. For the
SBA’s Y2K fax-back service, call
877/ RU-Y2K-OK, or visit the SBA’s
Y2K Web site at www.sba-gov/y2k/.

Other sources of help
There are many helpful sources you can turn
to in making your business ready for the century date change.
There are thousands of web sites dedicated to the year 2000 problem. Many sites have links to sources of free software, planning
tools, discussion groups, and so forth. Below is a short list of some
useful web sites:
http://www.year2000.com

Peter de Jager’s web site--a good source of links to other sites
http://www.compinfo.co.uk/y2k/manufpos.htm

links to computer manufacturers’ home pages where you can find
Year 2000 compliance information
http://www.software.ibm.com/year2000/

IBM’s Year 2000 page
http://www.microsoft.com

Microsoft’s Year 2000 page
http://www.gmt-2000.com/main.htm

Greenwich Mean Time’s home page with evaluations of PC testers
and BIOS chips useful for PC evaluation
http://pw2.netcom.com/~helliott/00.htm

the so-called “mother of all Y2K link sites” contains many links
to other sites
http://www.jks.co.uk/y2ki/confer/notices/dtisme01.htm

link to report entitled “Helping the Small Business Tackle Year 2000”
http://www.sba.gov/y2k/

The Small Business Administration web site
Are You Y2K OK?

http://www.year2000.unt.edu/WCS

Society for Information Management
Suggested Readiness Steps
Phase
1 Awareness
2 Inventory
3 Assessment
and Planning
4 Correction
and Testing
5 Implementation

10

Approach
Educating and involving all levels of your
organization in solving the problem
Creating your checklist toward
Year 2000 readiness
Examining how severe and widespread the
problem is in your business
and what needs to be fixed
Implementing the readiness strategy you
have chosen and testing the fix
Moving your repaired or replacement
system into your production environment

http://www.isquare.com/y2k.htm

The Small Business Advisor web site
If you are a financial institution and you have a regulatory or supervisory
question about Year 2000 compliance, contact Ray Bacon, director, Special
Exams, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, 312/322-5916.
If you are a small business person and have questions about the publication Small Business and the Year 2000, as well as steps the Federal Reserve
System is taking to address Year 2000 concerns in financial institutions,
contact the Consumer and Community Affairs Division of the Federal
Reserve Bank of Chicago, 312/322-8232.

ECOA and Small Business and Farm Lending
By Helen K. Mirza
Community Affairs Program Director
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
The Equal Credit Opportunity
Act (ECOA) and its implementing regulation, the Federal
Reserve’s Regulation B, continue
to be the subject of intense concern and focus among banks,
thrifts, and the federal financial
regulatory agencies. It is widely
understood that this act and its
implementing regulation apply
to consumer and mortgage lending. It appears less well understood that they apply equally to
commercial, agricultural and
business lending.
Under the new Regulation BB,
which implements the revised
Community Reinvestment Act
(CRA) regulations, large banks
are now required to report smallbusiness and small-farm loans to
regulators for purposes of assessing the credit needs of these economic sectors. Along with this
new focus on small business and
farm credit is a renewed interest
in the fair and equitable treatment of small- business and farm
borrowers.
In lending to small businesses
and farms, financial institutions
generally have their underwritings on a personal credit analysis
of the principal(s) and the credit
and financial history (if any) of
the business or farm. If the business or farm is a relatively new
venture with limited financial
history and/or assets, the underwriting is usually based exclusively on the creditworthiness of the
principal(s). As a result, it is
sometimes difficult to determine
the exact nature of the under-

writing criteria and application
of the ECOA to the business or
farm credit.

extension of credit from a creditor,” and further defines a person
as, “a natural person, corporation, government or governmen-

Under the new Regulation
BB, which implements the
revised CRA regulations,
large banks are now required to report small-business and small-farm loans
to regulators ...
The ECOA and Regulation B
state that, “The purpose of this
regulation is to promote the
availability of credit to all creditworthy applicants without regard
to race, color, religion, national
origin, sex, marital status, or
age.” The regulation also defines
an applicant as, “any person who
requests or who has received an

tal subdivision or agency, trust,
estate, partnership, cooperative,
or association.” Individual proprietorships, whether a business
or a farm, are defined as “persons” because their legal existence is through the natural person. Therefore, credit to a
business or farm is always subject to ECOA and Regulation B.

This is true irrespective of
whether the credit underwriting is based upon the individual proprietors’ credit or on
the credit history, assets, and
financial strength of the business or farm.
Regulation B also separately
defines “business credit” as that
which “refers to extensions of
credit primarily for business or
commercial (including agricultural) purposes.” Note that the
distinction is based upon the
purpose of the credit and not on
the applicant or whether the
underwriting was based on personal or business credit worthiness. This distinction is important because it follows that
discrimination, which is based
upon personal attributes, such as
race and gender, can occur in
the underwriting process even
though the credit is for business
or commercial purposes.
Consequently, the regulators
strongly encourage commercial
and farm lenders to be as familiar as the underwriters of consumer and mortgage loans with
the requirements of Regulation
B and ECOA. All are subject to
the anti-discrimination and technical requirements of the law,
including adverse action notices
and monitoring information. ■
If your financial institution would
like additional information or training on the ECOA, Regulation B, or
other applicable fair-lending laws
and regulations, please contact the
Consumer and Community Affairs
Division of the Federal Reserve Bank
of Chicago at (312) 322-8232.

11

Detroit Bank Consortium Surpasses Goals
In 1994, the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development designated the City of
Detroit as one of six urban
Empowerment Zones. The
Empowerment Zone/Enterprise
Community Initiative is a major
federal effort, launched in collaboration with local communities, to revitalize urban and rural
areas of persistent poverty.

Among the private sector partners was a group of Detroit
banks and financial intermediaries that later became known as
the Empowerment Zone Financial Institutions Consortium
(EZFIC). The EZFIC set a tenyear goal of $1.1 billion in private bank investment in projects
and development goals contained in the EZ blueprint.

Notable in Detroit’s application
were significant commitments by
the private sector to partner with
government and community residents in revitalization efforts.

This ambitions goal promised
dramatic expansion over the
combined $30 million of lending
and investment in the Detroit
Empowerment Zone neighbor-

hoods made by all Consortium
members in 1993.
But even such an ambitious goal
underestimated the commitment
Detroit’s financial community
was prepared to make. Well
before the end of 1998 - a little
over four years into the effort the 10-year goal already had
been met. All of the loans have
been market rate transactions
utilizing standard bank underwriting, and the credit portfolio
is considered strong.

Members of the EZFIC include:
Comerica Bank, Detroit Local
Initiatives Support Corporation,
Bank One, First Federal of
Michigan, First Independence
Bank, National City, Greater
Detroit BIDCO, Liberty BIDCO,
Michigan National Bank, and
Standard Federal Bank. ■
Stay tuned for a full story on the
Detroit Consortium and its accomplishments in an upcoming issue of
Economic Development News & Views.

Illinois Gets Rural Empowerment Zone Designation
The Alexander, Pulaski and
Johnson counties region was
recently designated a Rural
Empowerment Zone. The
region is characterized by a
high level of poverty, high
unemployment, and continued loss of population.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has determined that the
Rural Development Office in Illi-

nois will administer $2 million
a year for grant
programs annually over the
next ten years.
The region
called Southernmost Illinois
Delta Empowerment Zone was
one of five Rural Empowerment

Zones selected
out of a total of
160 applications
from all over the
nation. Wally
Furrow, State
Director for Rural Development
in Illinois, feels
that the reason
this region was chosen over so
many others is because of a

regional approach to rural economic development and overwhelming local support for the
initiative. Furrow has appointed
Sheldon Keyser as the Empowerment Zone coordinator for
Illinois. ■
For additional information contact
Sheldon Keyser at 217/398-5412.

Fed Releases a New Video on Women-Owned Businesses
The Federal Reserve is now offering a videotape designed to
heighten awareness among
lenders about the business
opportunities available to them
in lending to businesses owned
by women.
The new videotape, To Their
Credit: Women-Owned Businesses,

12

relays the credit-seeking experiences of new successful women
business owners.

further emphasizes the need for
women to prepare a comprehensive business plan.

Through testimonies and discussions with lenders and women’s
business organizations, the video
stresses how women commercial
borrowers should build a relationship with a lender. The video

In addition, lenders are shown
the staying power and profitability that this fast-growing segment
of the economy can afford their
financial institutions. ■

The videotape is available through
FVS Media for a nominal fee. To
place an order, call 800/555-5471.

New Partnerships to Increase Lending to Minority Firms
Officials from the
U.S. Small Business
Administration
(SBA), the Chicago
Urban League, and
the 18th Street Development Corporation (ESDC)
have signed separate partnership
agreements that are intended to
significantly increase lending
and business opportunities for
African-American, Hispanics,
and other minority businesses
in the Chicago area.
“The SBA is committed to dramatically increasing its guaranteed lending to minorities,” said

www.frbchi.org

The Federal
Federal Reserv
Reserve Bank
of Chicag
Chicago's web
web site offers
offers
a wide variety of timely
timely
and unique information,
information,
including:

www.frbchi.org

on the web

Research
• Economic Data and Research
• Banking Data
Resources
• Educational Resources
Publications
lications
• Pub
Community
unity and Economic
• Comm
Devvelopment Initiatives
Initiatives
• De
Development
• Economic Dev
News
ws & Vie
Views
ws
• Ne
Community
unity Reinv
Reinvestment
• Comm
Information
• Act Information
Community
• Consumer & Community
Information
ormation
• Inf

Anthony J. McMahon, the SBA's
acting Illinois district director.
The SBA, the Chicago Urban
League, and the 18th Street
Development Corporation will
now be able to provide crucial
technical assistance and
SBA-guaranteed loans to small
businesses. Together we will
open doors to this new economy
wider than before.”
“The SBA, the Urban League,
and the 18th Street Development Corporation share common goals which include promoting the creation and
expansion of business development among minorities in the
Chicago metropolitan area,”
McMahon said.
Under the terms of the various
agreements, called Memorandums of Understanding, the
Urban League and the Development Corp. in conjunction with
the SBA, will hold various “Meet
the Lender” forums in communities throughout the greater
Chicago area.
The two organizations, working
with the SBA, will arrange the
events, invite lenders and pro-

mote attendance. In addition,
the organizations will identify
and recruit financial institutions as corporate partners.
They will also negotiate lending commitments for AfricanAmerican or Hispanic owned
businesses.
The SBA will provide training
and information to the Urban
League and ESDC staffs about
SBA financing programs, such as
the Women's and Minority Prequalification loan programs, and
the SBAExpress, Microloan and
ACE-Net programs.
Under the prequalification programs, women and minority business owners can work with the
SBA, the Chicago Urban League,
and other organizations to
obtain help in developing effective business plans and loan
application packages. If the SBA
then finds the borrower qualified, it issues a prequalification
letter indicating that the applicant merits a loan guaranty.
ACE-Net is a nationwide listing of
information on small businesses
seeking equity capital from
“angel” investors. The agency will
also promote its other programs

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is one of 12
regional Reserve Banks that, together with the
Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., serve as
the nation’s central bank, the Federal Reserve System.
The role of the Federal Reserve System is to foster
a strong economy and a stable financial system.
The Chicago Reserve Bank:
• participates in formulating national
monetary policy,
• supervises and regulates banks and bank
holding companies, and
• provides financial services to banks and
the U.S. government.

including those dealing with capital access, procurement, international trade, women's business,
welfare-to-work and advocacy.
The SBA’s Illinois District Office
at 500 W. Madison St., Suite
1250, Chicago, includes a computerized, state-of-the-art Business Information Center that is
available free to the public. In
addition, SBA services include
a network of Small Business
Development Centers and
numerous Service Corps of
Retired Executives small business counseling sites. ■
For additional information on any
of the Small Business Administration programs, contact the SBA at
800/827-5722, or in:
Illinois

312/353-4528
217/492-4416

Indiana

317/226-7272

Iowa

515/284-4422

Michigan

313/226-6075

Wisconsin

608/264-5261
414/297-3941

Employees: 2,096
Assets: $50.9 billion (as of 12/31/98)
Depository Institutions in 7G District: 3,576
Banks and bank holding companies
supervised: 1,336
Financial services volumes (1998):
• Checks processed — $1.5 trillion
• Automated Clearinghouse
transfers — $2.5 trillion
• Wire transfers — $46.8 trillion
• Currency received and counted — $39.4
billion
• Unfit currency destroyed — $6.6 billion

13

From Our Research Department
Labor Market conditions
in the Seventh District
The Federal Reserve Bank of
Chicago serves the Seventh
Federal Reserve District, which
includes the entire state of Iowa
along with large portions of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and
Wisconsin. At the present time,
there are 43 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the Seventh District. The geographic
boundaries of MSAs are defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as
economic areas encompassing
communities that are tightly
linked by a flow of commuters,
migrants, goods and services,
and payments.

Currently, labor markets in the
Seventh District are much tighter
than the nation as a whole. In
sharp contrast to the 1980s, the
region’s unemployment rate has
been running below the national
average since 1992. While good
news for the region’s workers,
whose wages and salaries are
growing faster, the very low levels
of unemployment are making it
difficult for employers to find
quality help. Broad-based labor
shortages, across both industry
and occupational categories,
have contributed greatly to the
District’s slowing employment

tion trends, employers can
expect little relief from tight
labor markets in the near term.
Labor Market Highlights
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Seventh District states averaged 3.6 percent
in January, well below the national average of 4.3 percent. While
slightly above the historically low
rates attained in April and May
of last year, the region’s average
is still 0.3 percent below January
1998 levels.

Midwest Unemployment Rate
14

Unemployment rates are useful
indicators of the labor market
conditions in local areas. The
unemployment rate is defined as
the percentage of adults in the
work force who are not currently
employed but are actively seeking employment. Importantly,
the work force, and hence the
unemployment rate, does not
include workers who are not
actively looking for work. This
means that workers who have
given up looking for work are
not counted as unemployed.
Unemployment rates for Seventh
District MSAs are derived from
data provided by the United
States Department of Labor
(USDL). Using definitions and
guidelines established by the
USDL to ensure consistency
across state lines, state agencies
calculate MSA unemployment
rates on the basis of a monthly
payroll survey and unemployment insurance records. The
rates used here have been adjusted to account for normal seasonal variations.

14

12

Midwest
10
8

U.S.
6
4
2
1978

’80

’82

’84

’86

’88

growth in the last few years.
Earlier in this decade, a strong
rebound in our manufacturing
industries, as well as robustness
in construction and services, led
to employment growth in the
region that outpaced that of the
nation. As labor markets in the
region tightened more dramatically in the mid-1990s, the
national rate of employment
growth caught up to, and has
since surpassed, the region’s.
With few signs of any softening
in the Seventh District economy,
and relatively unfavorable migra-

’90

’92

’94

’96

’98

All five District states had unemployment rates below the national average in January. Illinois had
the highest rate of the five states,
at 4.0 percent, while Iowa had
the lowest, at 2.9 percent. In
addition, only Wisconsin’s unemployment rate failed to show further tightening from the same
period last year.
Of the metropolitan areas, nearly
90 percent of the District’s 43
Metropolitan Statistical Areas
(MSAs) had unemployment rates
below the national average in

December. Rates range from a
low of 1.6 percent in Madison,
Wisconsin to a high of 5.5 percent in Kankakee, Illinois. All
five of the region’s major metropolitan regions had unemployment rates below the national
average, with Des Moines having
the lowest rate (1.9 percent) followed by Indianapolis (2.5 percent), Detroit (3.3 percent),
Milwaukee (3.6 percent),
and Chicago (4.1 percent).
Employers throughout the Seventh District continued to report
difficulty finding workers as 1998
drew to a close. Information
technology workers and skilled
craftsman were most often cited
as being in short supply. Retailers
had more difficulty than in
recent years finding holiday help
and were retaining more of the
workers they could find after the
holidays had passed.
Despite the very tight labor
markets, general wage pressures remain subdued with
most gains coming at the lower end of the pay scale and in
occupations (such as information technology) where severe
shortages persist. ■

Richard E. Kaglic
Economist

Seventh District Labor Markets
Unemployment conditions for December 1998

Green Bay
Wausau
Oshkosh
Saginaw
Sheboygan
Grand Rapids

Flint

Lansing

Madison
Milwaukee

Cedar Falls/Waterloo

Racine
Kenosha

Janesville

Dubuque

Rockford

Sioux City
Cedar Rapids

Benton Harbor

Davenport/
Moline

Detroit

Chicago

Kalamazoo
Elkhart

Iowa City
Des Moines
Kankakee

Peoria

Gary

Normal/
Bloomington Lafayette

Springfield
Decatur

Champaign/
Urbana

South
Bend
Kokomo

Terre
Haute

Ann Arbor
Jackson

Fort Wayne

Muncie

Indianapolis

December Unemployment Rates 1998

Bloomington

Seventh District (MSAs), seasonally adjusted
over 5.5%
4.5 to 5.5
3.5 to 4.5
under 3.5

NOTE: All rates are subject to revision.

15

Economic Development

News &Vıews
Volume 5 Number 1
March, 1999

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