The Virginian-Pilot
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Hampton Roads, helped by lower-than-average job losses, has weathered the recession much better than most of the nation's metro areas, a non partisan research institute said in a study being released today.
Brookings Institution of Washington also reported that the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News region was one of 10 metro areas in its study that showed signs of an economic recovery.
The study measured the nation's 100 largest metro areas by changes in employment, wages, home prices and other benchmarks, and said that Hampton Roads ranked 16th in economic health.
"All metropolitan areas are feeling the effects of this recession, but the distress is not shared equally," Alan Berube, research director of Brookings' Metropolitan Study Program and co-author of the report, said in a statement.
"While some areas of the country have experienced only a shallow downturn and may be emerging from the recession already, people living in metro areas that are now performing weakest economically should prepare themselves for a long recovery period," he said.
Berube said the Brookings program was analyzing metro areas because of the contributions they make to the national economy.
"The 100 largest," he said, "contain two-thirds of our jobs and generate three-quarters of U.S. gross domestic product."
One indicator that an economic recovery may be under way in Hampton Roads was a 0.3 percent increase in the output of its goods and services between last year's fourth quarter and the January-through-March quarter this year, according to the study.
That was the third-best performance among the 100 largest metro areas, the study said.
Also, job losses in Hampton Roads have been less severe than in many other regions, the study noted. Those metro areas with high concentrations of jobs in education, medicine and government appeared to be shielded from dramatic job losses, the Brookings report said.
One longtime safety net for the Hampton Roads economy has been the number of military personnel and defense contractors in the region.
Brookings said its study is the first in a series of quarterly reports on metro areas that it plans to issue.
At the top of Brookings' list of regions ranked by economic performance was San Antonio, which also has a large concentration of military activity. The Washington -Northern Virginia-Maryland metro area, with its concentration of government activity, was 13th.
At the bottom of the Brookings list was the Detroit region, whose economy has been battered by layoffs in auto manufacturing.
Tom Shean, (757) 446-2379, tom.shean@pilotonline.com
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Our port is just one part of this regions economy,
we don't need to put all of our eggs in one basket investing in infrastructure. Outside of the longshoremen and the people at the top the majority of the jobs are warehouse jobs which don't pay that well. Also don't forget there are other ports that this cargo will go to such as New York, Baltimore, Charleston, Savannah, Miami, etc.
So Many Pessimists
I have never seen so many pessimists in all my life, can't anybody think positive?
I can think positive, and
I can think positive, and good thoughts. But it's not what people will do. They will continue to inflict pain on our country.
Remember, the same people that say they couldn't predict the downturn and predicting the end of it. Why would you listen to them again?
Recovery is reality
One poster said the Pilot is doing a disservice by lulling people into believing the crisis is over. To that one I say, “bull!”. Our economy is based primarily on perception. If people begin to feel confident the economy is recovering, they’re more apt to pull their money from beneath their mattresses and return to spending a bit more and investing again. Keep telling everyone the sky is falling and all you’ll find is a nation in fear.
Another referenced the economic woes in general are not over. For the majority of the country that’s true. But this article was aimed at the Hampton Roads area, and the article is true. It doesn’t mean we’re right back where we were when the crisis began, simply we’re in the recovery mode.
Why is having some savings
Why is having some savings such a bad thing? During the credit bubble/housing mania as a whole the people our nation were spending more than we were making. People are living paycheck to paycheck, and the young people aren't going to be able to save for retirement.
Something like 40% of our GDP comes from Wall Street / money shuffling while something like 20% comes from actual production of product. This kind of stuff is unsustainable over the long run. Our lifestyles are being financed by foreign countries. Self sustainability would be good.
Mike Barrett comment
Completely agree. I am glad at least one other person understands.
Balanced Economy
Yes, our economy benefits from military and government spending, but just as that has grown, so has our so called commercial economy. Industry clusters that have shown growth and strenth include transportation, logistics, research and development including initiatives in modeling and simulation, high tech manufacturing, health care, and even regional headquarters for firms like Amerigroup. If we invest in transportation infrastructure, our port related industries will have a resurgence from the widening of the Panama Canal and the expected increase in activity at our Port. But if we fail to invest, and congestion inevitably gets worse, we will cede the advantage we have in our harbor to other regions willing to plan ahead and invest in transportation infrastructure. It really is up to our voters, and if we continue with business as usual, that is, sending delegates to Richmond that simply go along instead of working in our interest, we will have missed a golden opportunity.
Hey there Governor Kaine
... how's that ridiculous tobacco tax hike and banning treating you these days? GREAT JOB in taxing smokers to QUIT, but HORRIBLE job in that you've LOST BIG REVENUE, and NOW you're in trouble!
Do you liberal Democrats learn NOTHING from the poster child of state budget failure, i.e., California?
you are kidding right?
you write this as though our economic woes are past tense. do you read the news? it ain't over yet!
This can't be true
because Ethan said we were on the edge of economic collapse.