A “roller coaster” of business news reporting

April 1st, 2008 at 05:45am Deborah Austin

It’s not always easy being the messenger.

Business reporters and editors may have the reputation of painting a bleak picture when it comes to economic trends. In fact, we often get blamed for making things worse when we report downward trends in housing starts or upward trends in unemployment.

But trust me, we get pretty excited reporting about growth and new business.

Last week when I was on vacation, outside the workings of the newsroom, I found myself checking on BusinessRockford.com from a different perspective – as a reader. And I was struck anew by the mix of “positive” and “negative” business news the Rock River Valley can see in just one week.

For instance the Rockford metropolitan statistical area – for the second year in a row – was announced as tops in Illinois in population growth rate. Growth, rather than shrinkage, is a big positive when developers and retailers are deciding where to build or expand.

But the same week, the Illinois Department of Employment Security announced that the jobless rate for our region was up again for the seventh straight month in year-over-year comparisons.

Meanwhile Acument Global Technologies, formerly Textron Fastening Systems, announced immediate plans to add 50 workers to its newly formed Camcar Aerospace division, while putting several million dollars’ worth of equipment into two 18th Avenue Rockford plants – a site that once was the headquarters of Textron’s Camcar division. The company hopes to expand sales to $70 million within three years.

But in other news that week, Allegiant Air said it would end its passenger route from Rockford to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. May 31, due to high fuel costs and less-than-anticipated sales.

And yet – again, that same week – came another announcement of potential economic growth. Rockford-based Atometric Inc., a startup company based at Rockford’s EIGERlab, found a major backer in the Stateline Angels, a group of local businesspersons formed to help local startups with expertise and money. Atometric foresees a multimillion-dollar market in machining specialized parts for biomedical and genetic research companies.

All of that was part of our region’s business news in one week, and I’m just hitting some of the highlights.

As the messengers at BusinessRockford.com, we’ll keep reporting the numbers and what they show. We’ll keep telling the stories of new technology and new ventures, too.

It can feel like a roller coaster, as well as a reflection of our unpredictable economic times. But this region has hung on for the ride before, and has adapted creatively. We will do so again.

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