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

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The Washington, D.C.-based thino tank has begun analyzing the impact of the recessiomthroughout America’s metropolitan areas. In the firsgt of a series of quarterly MetroMonitor Brookings rankedSan Antonio, Oklahoma City, Austin, Houstom and Dallas as the top five metro areas in the country in economic performance in the wake of the Brookings ranked the top 100 metropolitajn areas based on six key indicatorsx — employment, unemployment rates, wages, grosd metropolitan product, housing prices and foreclosure rates. This initial MetroMonitort report covers the first quarterof 2009.
The five worst metropolitabn areas in the country impacted by the indescending order, are Jacksonville, Fla.; Lakeland, Tampa, Fla.; Bradenton, and Detroit. “All metropolitanm areas are feeling the effects ofthis recession, but the distressa is not shared equally,” says Alan research director of the Metropolita n Policy Program at Brookings and co-author of the report. “Whilw some areas of the countryh have experienced only ashallow downturn, and may be emerging from the recession already, people living in metro areas that are now performing weakesft economically should prepare themselves for a long recovery period.
” Howard director of the Metropolitan Economy Initiative at Brookinges and another co-author of the report, arguesd that the report shows that a nationalk fiscal and monetary policy will not be enoug h for stimulating the economy. “Many (metro) areazs will need targeted 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 regional economies duringthe recession.
For example, metropolitan areas in statese with specializations in energy and governmentemploymengt — such as Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas and Louisiana — have largely been insulatef by the recession. However, metropolitan areasd in states like Michigan and Ohio that depene heavily on the automotive industry have been impacted by the downturnm inthe economy, the report shows. San Antoniol is home to Randolph Air Force FortSam Houston, Lackland Air Force Base and Brook s City-Base.
The 2005 Base Realignment and Closured decision alone is providing a significant economidc punch to theAlamo City’s economy through the consolidation of high-payinhg military health care jobs and more than $2 billionn worth of new construction activity. A separate report releaser by LLC outlining the impacy of BRAC showed that Fort Sam Houstohn alone would experiencea 11,5090 increase of personnel. The Army post will also gain 7.9 milliomn square feet of space.
Construction activity due to BRAC alone shoulccreate 46,000 construction jobs during the coursr of the building programs, the DiLuzio report