Study: Jacksonville among weakest-performing areas

[thelakelander]

The worst metro area is Detroit, and we're not far above it.

By Jeremy Cox Story updated at 3:56 AM on Wednesday, Jun. 17, 2009

Jacksonville ranks only four notches above last-place Detroit in a new study that measures the economic performance of the nation's 100 largest metro areas since the recession began.

The River City primarily owes its No. 96 ranking to a severe downturn in the local real estate market and the ripple effects in its finance and banking sector, said Alan Berube, co-author of the Brookings Institution report released today.

Some cities are feeling the pain of the recession more than others, the report shows. In Jacksonville, for example, the employment rate began falling after reaching its peak in the second quarter of 2007; nationally, employment reached its height in the fourth quarter that year.

The city's gross metropolitan product is off 6.8 percent since the recession began, one of the steepest declines in the country, according to the study. Detroit was last, with 10.1 percent.

More bad news for Jacksonville: It may take weaker-performing areas longer to emerge from the economic downturn, Berube said.

"The places that seem to be turning the corner on employment are those that never really got deep into it in the first place," he said.

The study based its rankings on employment, unemployment rates, wages, gross metropolitan product, housing prices and foreclosure rates.

In all, it found that the manufacturing belts of Michigan and Ohio have performed poorly. Florida, Arizona, Nevada and inland California also have been troubled by the housing fallout. Four of the five bottom cities were in Florida. Lakeland, Tampa and Bradenton all ranked below Jacksonville.

Meanwhile, energy and government sectors have buoyed metro areas in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. The top-performing metro area was San Antonio.

http://www.jacksonville.com/business/2009-06-17/story/study_jacksonville_among_weakest-performing_areas

[heights unknown]

Doesn't surprise me; Florida was hit very hard by the current economic squeeze or crises.  So what else is new?  It does surprise me a little that Jacksonville is near the bottom of the list because it appears that Jacksonville was not doing as bad as other major Florida Cities.

Heights Unknown