Hampton Roads' economic output lagged U.S. pace in 2010

After shrinking in 2009, Hampton Roads' economy expanded last year but failed to keep pace with the growth in many of the nation's metro areas, a unit of the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

The inflation-adjusted output of Hampton Roads' goods and services rose just 0.4 percent, compared with the 2.5 percent increase that U.S. metro areas generated as a group in 2010, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said.

In 2009, the region's output contracted 1 percent, which was less severe than the 2.5 percent decline for the nation's metro areas as a group.

Because of the steadying influence of defense spending, Hampton Roads tends to have slower economic growth and milder contractions than most metro areas, according to local economists.

Many metro areas witnessed a rebound in activity last year.

"The economic growth was widespread as real gross domestic product increased in 304 of 366 metropolitan areas," or 83 percent, the bureau said. The increase, it said, was led by manufacturing of durable goods, wholesale and retail trade and financial activities.

Where the Hampton Roads' economy ranked among the nation's metro area also slid.

Using current dollars rather than inflation-adjusted dollars, Hampton Roads' output last year slipped to 40th place among U.S. metro areas from 35th in 2009, according to the bureau.

Yet, in current dollars, the region's production of goods and services in 2010 amounted to $80.5 billion, an increase of 1.4 percent from the year-earlier total.

Elsewhere, the Richmond metro area ranked 45th in the dollar volume of its output of goods and services, while Roanoke was 144th. In North Carolina, the Raleigh-Cary region was 49th in output, and the Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill metro area was 24th.

Regional economists expect another year of subdued growth for the Hampton Roads economy in 2011. Old Dominion University's Economic Forecasting Project last week scaled back its earlier prediction of a 3.1 percent increase in inflation-adjusted output this year to 1.9 percent.

Tom Shean, (757) 446-2379, tom.shean@pilotonline.com