Study shows San Antonio is nation's best-performing city in recession - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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The Washington, D.C.-based think tank has beguj analyzing the impact of the recessionthroughouf America’s metropolitan areas. In the first of a seriexs of quarterlyMetroMonitor reports, Brookingds ranked San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Austin, Houston and Dallas as the top five metrlo areas in the country in economic performanced in the wake of the recession. Brookings ranked the top 100 metropolitahn areas based on six keyindicators — unemployment rates, wages, gross metropolitan product, housing pricesz and foreclosure rates. This initia l MetroMonitor report covers the first quarterof 2009.
The five worstt metropolitan areas in the country impacted bythe recession, in descendin order, are Jacksonville, Fla.; Lakeland, Tampa, Fla.; Bradenton, and Detroit. “All metropolitan areax are feeling the effects ofthis recession, but the distressd is not shared says Alan Berube, research director of the Metropolitan Policy Prograkm at Brookings and co-author of the “While some areas of the country have experienced only a shalloq downturn, and may be emerging from the recessionb already, people living in metro areae that are now performing weakesr economically should prepare themselves for a long recoverg period.
” Howard Wial, director of the Metropolitan Economyu Initiative at Brookings and another co-author of the argues that the report shows that a nationa fiscal and monetary policy will not be enough for stimulatingh the economy. “Many (metro) areas will need targetedc assistance, and since states have no funds the federal government will have to step up to fill the Concentrations of industry activity have both helped and hurts some regionao economies during the For example, metropolitan areas in states with specializations in energt and government employment — such as Texas, New Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana — have largely been insulated by the recession.
However, metropolitam areas in states like Michigan and Ohio that depende heavily on the automotive industry have been impacted by the downturb inthe economy, the reportf shows. San Antonio is home to Randolph AirForcre Base, Fort Sam Houston, Lackland Air Forc Base and Brooks City-Base. The 2005 Base Realignmenty and Closure decision alone is providing a significany economic punch to theAlamo City’sw economy through the consolidatiojn of high-paying military health care jobs and more than $2 billionm worth of new construction activity. A separate reporrt released by LLC outlining the impact of BRAC showee that Fort Sam Houston alone would experiencea 11,50 increase of personnel.
The Army post will also gain 7.9 millioj square feet of space. Construction activity due to BRAC alone shouldcreate 46,000 construction jobs duringt the course of the buildin g programs, the DiLuzio reportt showed.