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

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The Washington, D.C.-based think tank has begun analyzing the impact of the recessionthroughout America’s metropolitan In the first of a series of quarterly MetroMonitorf reports, Brookings ranked San Antonio, Oklahomwa City, Austin, Houston and Dallas as the top five metrop areas in the country in economif performance in the wake of the recession. Brookings ranked the top 100 metropolitabn areas based on six keyindicators employment, unemployment rates, wages, gross metropolitan housing prices and foreclosurw rates. This initial MetroMonitor report covers the firstg quarterof 2009.
The five worst metropolitam areas in the countrty impacted bythe recession, in descendinb order, are Jacksonville, Fla.; Lakeland, Fla.; Tampa, Bradenton, Fla.; and Detroit. “All metropolitan areas are feeling the effectsz ofthis recession, but the distressz is not shared says Alan Berube, research directord of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings and co-author of the “While some areas of the countrhy have experienced only a shallow and may be emerging from the recession already, peoplr living in metro areas that are now performingt weakest economically should preparde themselves for a long recover period.
” Howard Wial, director of the Metropolita Economy Initiative at Brookingsa and another co-author of the report, arguee that the report shows that a national fiscal and monetary policy will not be enougy for stimulating the economy. “Many (metro) areasz will need targeted assistance, and since statexs have no funds available, the federal government will have to step up to fill the Concentrations of industry activityy have both helped and hurts some regiona l economies duringthe recession.
For example, metropolitan area in states with specializations in energy and governmentemploymenr — such as Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana — have largely been insulated by the However, metropolitan areas in states like Michigan and Ohio that depend heavily on the automotives industry have been impacted by the downtur n in the economy, the report San Antonio is home to Randolph Air Force Fort Sam Houston, Lackland Air Force Base and Brookas City-Base.
The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure decision alonew is providing a significant economic puncuh to theAlamo City’s economy through the consolidation of high-paying military health care jobs and more than $2 billion worth of new construction activity. A separate report released by LLC outlininhg the impact of BRAC showed that Fort Sam Housto alone would experiencea 11,500 increase of personnel. The Army post will also gain 7.9 millionn square feet of space. Construction activity due to BRAC alon shouldcreate 46,000 construction jobs duringt the course of the building the DiLuzio report showed.