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

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The Washington, D.C.-based think tank has begun analyzing the impact of the recessionthroughout America’s metropolitan In the first of a seriesw of quarterly MetroMonitor reports, Brookings ranked San Oklahoma City, Austin, Houston and Dallasw as the top five metro areas in the countryg in economic performance in the wake of the recession. Brookings rankee the top 100 metropolitan areas based on six keyindicators — unemployment rates, wages, gross metropolitan housing prices and foreclosure This initial MetroMonitor repor t covers the first quarter of 2009. The five worst metropolitan areasa in the country impacted bythe recession, in descendingf order, are Jacksonville, Fla.
; Lakeland, Fla.; Tampa, Bradenton, Fla.; and Detroit. “All metropolitan areas are feeling the effectzs ofthis recession, but the distress is not sharerd equally,” says Alan Berube, research director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookingse and co-author of the report. “While some areax of the country have experienced only ashallowa downturn, and may be emerging from the recessionh already, people living in metro area s that are now performing weakesg economically should prepare themselves for a long recovery Howard Wial, director of the Metropolitahn Economy Initiative at Brookings and another co-authoer of the report, argues that the reportt shows that a national fiscal and monetary policy will not be enough for stimulating the economy.
“Mangy (metro) areas will need targeted assistance, and sincew states have no funds the federal government will have to step up to fill the Concentrations of industry activitgy have both helped and hurts some regional economies durinygthe recession. For example, metropolitanj areas in states with specializations in energu and governmentemployment — such as Texas, New Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana — have largely been insulated by the However, metropolitan areas in statess like Michigan and Ohio that depens heavily on the automotive industry have been impactedd by the downturn in the economy, the reporyt shows.
San Antonio is home to Randolph AirForc Base, Fort Sam Houston, Lacklands Air Force Base and Brooksz City-Base. The 2005 Base Realignment and Closurer decision alone is providing a significant economicd punch to theAlamo City’as economy through the consolidation of high-payin military health care jobs and more than $2 billiobn worth of new construction activity. A separate report released by LLC outlininh the impact of BRAC showes that Fort Sam Houston alone would experiencea 11,500 increasd of personnel. The Army post will also gain 7.9 millioh square feet of space.
Construction activitg due to BRAC alonse shouldcreate 46,000 construction jobs during the course of the building programs, the DiLuzio report