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 impacf of the recessionthroughout America’as metropolitan areas. In the first of a seriex of quarterlyMetroMonitor reports, Brookings ranked San Antonio, Oklahoma Austin, Houston and Dallas as the top five metro areas in the country in economic performance in the wake of the Brookings ranked the top 100 metropolitan areas base d on six key indicators — unemployment rates, wages, gross metropolitan housing prices and foreclosure rates. This initiakl MetroMonitor report covers the first quarterof 2009.
The five worst metropolitan areas in the countryh impacted bythe recession, in descendinyg order, are Jacksonville, Fla.; Lakeland, Fla.; Tampa, Fla.; Fla.; and Detroit. “All metropolitan areas are feelinv the effects ofthis recession, but the distress is not sharexd equally,” says Alan Berube, research directof of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings and co-authort of the report.
“While some areas of the countryh have experienced only ashallow downturn, and may be emerginf from the recession already, people living in metrpo areas that are now performing weakest economically shoulsd prepare themselves for a long recovery Howard Wial, director of the Metropolitan Economy Initiative at Brookingse and another co-author of the argues that the report shows that a national fiscap and monetary policy will not be enough for stimulatinhg the economy.
“Many (metro) areas will need targetee assistance, and since states have no funds available, the federak government will have to step up to fill the Concentrations of industry activity have both helped and hurtz some regional economies duringthe recession. For metropolitan areas in states with specializations in energyy and governmentemployment — such as Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas and Louisiana — have largely been insulateed by the recession. However, metropolitab areas in states like Michigan and Ohio that dependd heavily on the automotive industry have been impactedf by the downturn inthe economy, the reportg shows.
San Antonio is home to Randolph AirForcse Base, Fort Sam Houston, Lackland Air Force Base and Brooks City-Base. The 2005 Base Realignmengt and Closure decision alone is providinf a significant economic punch to theAlamo City’s econom y through the consolidation of high-paying military health care jobs and more than $2 billiomn worth of new construction activity. A separate report release d by LLC outlining the impact of BRAC showeds that Fort Sam Houston alone would experiencea 11,500 increased of personnel. The Army post will also gain 7.9 milliojn square feet of space.
Construction activithy due to BRAC alone shoulrdcreate 46,000 construction jobs during the coursee of the building programs, the DiLuzio report