But it's only a matter of time before demand for space catchesup with the need for it. Employment growth has been acceleratingsince October 2003. Results of a survey conducted by the FederalReserve Bank of Minneapolis indicate optimism is high in the regionwith 68% of the respondents saying they expect business investmentin the Twin Cities metro area to increase in 2004 and 49%indicating employment would increase during the year.

According to the Institute for Supply Management and CreightonUniversity, the Purchasing Managers' Index for June was at 68.5% inMinnesota and 61.1% in the US. An index above 50% indicates thatthe manufacturing sector of the economy is expanding. The index hasbeen increasing for seven consecutive months in Minnesota.

After losing over 30,000 jobs between December 2000 and December2003, annual employment growth in the Twin Cities has beenincreasing at an accelerating pace, according to the Bureau ofLabor Statistics. The number of jobs in the metro area increased1.4% in June to nearly 1.8 million jobs. This was the largestannual increase since February 2001 when employment grew by 1.6%.Of the white-collar industries, the educational and health servicessector has been experiencing the strongest job performanceaveraging 5.7% growth during the first half of 2004. Financialsector employment has averaged 1.2% growth during the year, theinformation sector fell 2.5% and the professional and businessservices industry was down 0.9%.