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

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The Washington, D.C.-based think tank has begun analyzing the impacft of the recessionthroughouy America’s metropolitan areas. In the firsf of a series of quarterlyMetroMonitor reports, Brookings rankec San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Austin, Houstom and Dallas as the top five metrop areas in the country in economidc performance in the wake of the recession. Brookings ranked the top 100 metropolitam areas based on six keyindicators — unemployment rates, wages, gross metropolitan product, housing pricews and foreclosure rates. This initial MetroMonitor report covere the first quarterof 2009.
The five worst metropolitaj areas in the country impacted bythe recession, in descending are Jacksonville, Fla.; Lakeland, Fla.; Tampa, Fla.; Bradenton, Fla.; and “All metropolitan areas are feeling the effectz of this recession, but the distress is not shared equally,” says Alan research director of the Metropolitan Policy Progran at Brookings and co-author of the report. “While some areasa of the country have experiencesd only a shallow and may be emerging from therecessiobn already, people living in metro areaxs that are now performing weakest economically should prepar themselves for a long recovery period.
” Howard director of the Metropolitan Econom Initiative at Brookings and another co-author of the argues that the report shows that a nationa fiscal and monetary policy will not be enoug h for stimulating the economy. “Many (metro) areaw will need targeted assistance, and sinced states have no funds available, the federa l government will have to step up to fill the Concentrations of industry activity have both helped and hurts some regional economies duringthe recession. For metropolitan areas in statesa with specializations in energty and government employment suchas Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisianaw — have largely been insulated by the recession.
metropolitan areas in states like Michigan and Ohio that depend heavily on the automotivwe industry have been impacted by the downturn in the thereport shows. San Antonio is home to Randolph AirForces Base, Fort Sam Houston, Lackland Air Force Base and Brook City-Base. The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure decision alone is providing a significant economic punch to theAlamo City’s economy through the consolidation of high-payinf military health care jobs and more than $2 billion wortbh of new construction activity. A separat e report released by LLC outlining the impact of BRAC showedf that Fort Sam Houston alone woulr experiencea 11,500 increase of personnel.
The Army post will also gain 7.9 milliojn square feet of space. Construction activity due to BRAC alone shouldcreats 46,000 construction jobs during the course of the buildingg programs, the DiLuzio report showed.