COEUR d'ALENE — Uncertainty has spread with the election of Donald Trump, but economist John Mitchell doesn't believe that will slow the economy in 2017.

That was a theme of Mitchell's talk to 130 Coeur d'Alene Chamber of Commerce members at the Best Western Plus Coeur d'Alene Inn on Wednesday morning.

"The economy will continue to grow," Mitchell said in an interview after his speech. "The uncertainty has increased because we don't know what policies will be in place. Uncertainty permeates the globe.

"But one can argue that risks are on the upside because the numbers are looking good. There's a tight labor market and there's rising income and employment."

Mitchell said the Northwest is outpacing the national scene with building activity as permits in Kootenai County through October are up 33 percent from a year ago. Seattle and Portland have among the most sizzling building markets in the country.

"This corner of the world is different than what's going on nationally," he said. "Housing is somewhat sluggish nationally, but not here. How many unemployed construction workers have you seen lately? Not many."

Chris Meyer, a partner with Parkwood Business Properties, a commercial development firm in Coeur d'Alene, said Mitchell's talk gave him comfort overall due to the continued confidence in the economy.

However, the spike with the local building number caused him to pause.

"Is that the beginning of an overheated market?" Meyer said. "We have all seen that before."

With uncharted political waters ahead but steady confidence in the markets, Meyer said Parkwood is "cautiously optimistic" about 2017.

"If 2017 continues on the same trajectory for us as 2016, it should be positive for us," he said.

Mitchell said he believes the future bodes well for Kootenai County because it offers a great quality of life, has had strong employment growth and is affordable.

"That will offer opportunities as we move ahead," he said.

Mitchell called November's election a "black swan" event — one that makes the economy difficult to predict — particularly due to the fuzzy national policy picture. He compared the election to the attacks on Pearl Harbor, the housing bust during the Great Recession and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in terms of presenting economic intrigue of what will come next.

"We'll have to see if the new policies will work," Mitchell said. "It's going to be a grand experiment. We just went through one of the most interesting election seasons that wasn't too heavy on the policy side.

"What will be the response with the rest of the world about what we do? We don't know."

Mitchell said dramatic changes in tax reform and trade policy are expected and the country will likely see lighter regulatory burdens.

"With tax reform, everybody knows the system is screwed up and there's even been broad areas of agreement from both sides (on ideas for change)," he said. "For 70 years, the U.S. trade policy objective has been to reduce trade barriers, but now we may move in the other direction."

Just don't expect those changes to be anytime soon.

"There is a tendency to overestimate the speed of change," he said. "If you write new rules, it's going to take time. We saw that in the last stimulus bill. Is there such a thing as a shovel-ready project if the funding is not there? No."

Mitchell said uncertainty often results in delays in major business moves.

"One of the inclinations is to put projects for international markets on hold a while," he said.

Mitchell said the country is in its 90th month of economic expansion and he predicts that will continue in 2017.

"We don't have any major housing issues and no major inventory problems," he said. "The fiscal policy will likely become more expansionary."

The labor market, he said, will likely continue to tighten.

"It will be even more difficult than it is now to hire," he said. "I suspect you have seen the abundance of 'help wanted' signs."

Steve Wilson, chamber's president and CEO, said workforce training will be a top priority for chambers across the state during the upcoming legislative session.

"We need to get the workforce ready because we're seeing way too many 'Help Wanted' signs," Wilson said.

Inflation will likely increase next year, Mitchell said. "We have lived through an extraordinarily low inflation period," he said. "The wild card here is the strengthening of the U.S. dollar. Will the strengthening hold down import prices? The strength of the dollar has even risen since the election. When the dollar rises, import prices go down."

Mitchell predicts the Federal Reserve will raise short-term interest rates next week by a half to three-quarters of 1 percent after a long period of extraordinarily low rates. However, predicting what will come after that will be a challenge due to the uncertainty of future economic policy, he said.

Mitchell summed up the state of the economy in a poem.

"Our resilience is being tested once more; it will be very exciting to see what's in store," he said.