New report ranks Oklahoma City, Tulsa among top performing cities in nation
Debbie Blossom, Business Writer
Comments 
14
Published: June 17, 2009
More than a year ago, Forbes magazine dubbed Oklahoma City the most recession-proof city in the nation.
Multimedia
Videoview all videos
Jun 17Ed Kelley takes a look at the economy in Oklahoma City compared to...
Photoview all photos
More Info
Related Links
Read the full report
Other key findings
from MetroMonitor
• All of the nation’s largest metro areas have lost jobs during the recession, from 0.2 percent in Oklahoma City to 13.5 percent in Cape Coral, Fla. Ten of the 15 metro areas with the largest job losses are located in three states — California, Florida and Ohio.
• No metropolitan area avoided an increase in its unemployment rate from March 2008 to March 2009. Increases ranged from 1.2 percentage points in Des Moines, Iowa, to 6.6 percentage points in Portland, Ore.
• Nearly all metro areas have seen a decline in economic output from pre-recessionary peaks. Nine of the 15 metropolitan areas with the sharpest drops are in Florida, Michigan and Ohio.
• Slightly more than one-third of the 100 largest metropolitan areas avoided declines in home prices over the past year, even as prices nationwide dipped 6 percent. Prices dropped by more than 30 percent in Stockton, Calif.
• As of March 2009, only 10 of the 100 metropolitan areas were beginning to show signs of recovery, yet none of those areas had yet returned to its pre-recession levels of employment or output.
• All of the nation’s largest metro areas have lost jobs during the recession, from 0.2 percent in Oklahoma City to 13.5 percent in Cape Coral, Fla. Ten of the 15 metro areas with the largest job losses are located in three states — California, Florida and Ohio.
• No metropolitan area avoided an increase in its unemployment rate from March 2008 to March 2009. Increases ranged from 1.2 percentage points in Des Moines, Iowa, to 6.6 percentage points in Portland, Ore.
• Nearly all metro areas have seen a decline in economic output from pre-recessionary peaks. Nine of the 15 metropolitan areas with the sharpest drops are in Florida, Michigan and Ohio.
• Slightly more than one-third of the 100 largest metropolitan areas avoided declines in home prices over the past year, even as prices nationwide dipped 6 percent. Prices dropped by more than 30 percent in Stockton, Calif.
• As of March 2009, only 10 of the 100 metropolitan areas were beginning to show signs of recovery, yet none of those areas had yet returned to its pre-recession levels of employment or output.
About the report
The MetroMonitor report is the first comprehensive analysis of the impact of the recession on metropolitan America, its authors say. The research examines six key indicators — employment, employment change by industry, unemployment rates, wages, gross metropolitan product and housing prices and foreclosure rates — through the first quarter of 2009.
"All metropolitan areas are feeling the effects of this recession, but the distress is not shared equally,” said Alan Berube, the program’s research director and report co-author. "While some areas of the country have experienced only a shallow downturn, and may be emerging from the recession already, people living in metro areas that are now performing the weakest economically should prepare themselves for a long recovery period.”
Economists aren’t surprised at the state’s competence.
"This verifies what we’ve been saying for a while — that it’s good to be in the middle of the country,” said Keith Hazelton, senior vice president and director of economic research at the Oklahoma Bankers Association.
That Oklahoma City’s and Tulsa’s home price index increased shows that "we didn’t participate in the housing bubble like everyone else did,” Hazelton said. Land here is inexpensive and plentiful, compared to hard-hit metro areas surrounded by swamps, desert or mountains, he said.
On the employment side, although unemployment is a lagging indicator and Oklahoma and its neighbors have had a delayed reaction to job loss, Hazelton said employment numbers here will rise more quickly than in the rest of the country.
Reshaping the country
The study shows the recession has reshaped the economies in some parts of the country, the authors said. The Sun Belt is now divided, with the housing fallout hurting large portions of Florida, Arizona, Nevada, and inland California. Specialization in energy and government employment have insulated metro areas in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
There are also two distinct manufacturing belts, with the Michigan and Ohio metro areas at the hub of the auto industry now foundering from job losses that began two to three years earlier than in the rest of the country.
Metro areas in the Northeast, focused more on aerospace and photonics, experienced fewer lost jobs and actual house price increases, the study said.
Brookings’ research confirms other economic data that show the state’s energy and agriculture sectors kept Oklahoma from sliding into the recessionary sinkhole, said Oklahoma City University economist Steve Agee, who also is chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s Oklahoma City Branch.
"The blessing we had was that we entered this recession later, and that we’ll come out of this at the same time as everyone else,” thanks in part to the monetary and fiscal stimulus packages,” Agee said. "The recession will be shorter for us.”
For Oklahoma City and Tulsa, "the report is all good, but it’s all relative, too,” Agee said. Oklahoma’s employment rate depends on the energy sector, and the prices for natural gas and oil, he said.
Related Topics:
Business, Economic Issues, Real Estate, Jobs and Labor, Layoffs and Downsizing, Recessions and Depressions, Property Values, Economic Crisis
Prev
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
Thank you for joining our conversations on newsok. We encourage your discussions but ask that you stay within the bounds of our terms and conditions. Please help us by reporting comments that violate these guidelines. To review our rules of engagement, go to Commenting and posting policy.
Log in below or sign up (it's free).
Of course if you dont mind working behind a counter for a few scheckles youll be ok.
In the long haul Oklahoma will indeed be alright. Our economy is disconnected from the national economy fairly well, and randon luck held that energy and agri business were not tanked out this time...
Seven of the fortune 500 companies are headquartered here in Oklahoma, with six of them being in the geo-petrolum energy sector. If the energy sector had been ground zero, our lives would not be good right now. In comparison Arkansas with a smaller population has 5 fortune 500 headquarters, Colorado 10, and Texas, well, 50+!
I don't complain about government jobs or the energy sector jobs, both pay well and provide nice standards of living for citizens here. The state could really benefit from diversifcation though, I would love to see us have 12 headquarters here from say five different industries- that would be great! But- that would also tie us closer to the overall economy of the country, and it is currently hurting. BUT- when the general economy bounces back, we will not see as great a positive recovery for the same reason- our narrow industrial base. If enegy consumption lags on the back end of the recovery, our bouce back will not be as good.
Tony- while I too question the wiseness of the Vance strike, the "work friendly" has not panned out since the changing in the laws a few years back. To date NO industry has declared a move to Oklahoma because of the right to work issue. It is no deep mystery why companies move to certain places, go read in Forbes, Fortune, or the Wall Street Journal. Companies move to places for reasons like cost of living (OK is great), quality of life (museums, cultural activities, education system for workers kids, libraries, quality of roads, access to healthcare and the like- compared nationally OK does not rank so high), acessability (like major roads and airports) general education system (we rank in bottom 10) and the skills of native population (We have a mixed record).
Union or Non Union, or right to work is not listed by any fortune 500 as a reason for the location of any of their sites...