The United States may be sliding into recession, but South Dakota will weather the storm well, an economist told attendees at an economic outlook seminar in Rapid City Thursday.

A record number of non-farm jobs, higher incomes and record highs in farm income are helping the state's economy beat the national downward spiral, said Ralph Brown, a University of South Dakota economics professor.

The South Dakota Chamber of Commerce & Industry hosted the economic outlook conference. Brown reviewed a number of South Dakota statistics, which stood in stark contrast to the grim national picture.

Since December 2007, the national economy has shed 760,000 non-farm jobs, and watched as industrial production and retail and food sales declined. In contrast, South Dakota's non-farm jobs continue to climb, including construction and manufacturing jobs.

"We have more people employed in South Dakota than we've ever had before," he said. "To this point, South Dakota's not in a recession, at least in looking at the employment numbers."

Farm income is up as commodity prices climbed since the 2006 drought. While South Dakota farm income averages about $1 billion a year, income has climbed past $1.6 billion this year.

"That's a record. We've never had higher farm income," Brown said.

Although requests for building permits in the state are slowing, they haven't sunk far when compared with an 8-year average. Rapid City's average home price is 54 percent higher than in 2000, which beats the state average of 47 percent.

But South Dakota's home prices didn't inflate nearly as much as the 69 percent climb of the national average. So while the average home price in the U.S. has begun to fall, prices in the state are climbing more steadily, with less fear of a dramatic drop, Brown said.

South Dakota retail sales numbers are holding steady. Sioux Falls beat Rapid City in a number of factors, but he pointed out Rapid City's ability to pull in dollars from out of town, what is known as a "pull factor."

"Rapid City must be doing a very good job in terms of retail sales," Brown said.

According to analysis firm Global Insight, the U.S. and global economy will shrink through the rest of 2008 and most of 2009. Global Insight's analysis forms the basis for forecasting the state's economic future, Brown said.

A recovery should start in 2010 with a "robust recovery" in 2011, Brown said. That's good news for those who have watched the markets' recent slips and wild swings.

"People ask me, 'how do you sleep?'" Brown said. "I say, 'I sleep like a baby - I wake up crying every two hours."

South Dakota's numbers don't look bad, but nobody should think the national picture has no effect on the state, Brown said.

"We're not immune to this economy, we are linked," he said. We're not going to see near the fluctuations, or near the downturns of the U.S. economy, but we're going to see some impact."

Farm incomeFarm income is up as commodity prices climbed since the 2006 drought South Dakota farm income averages around $1 billion a year, but income has climbed past $1.6 billion this year.