Southern Auto Corridor > Issues > Fall 2009

Fall 2009

So, how bad was it?

While the two-year recession is likely over, there’s no question that the roughest part of it was between October 2008 and October of 2009. During that time, the nation lost almost 5.3 million jobs. Of those, 1.85 million jobs were lost in the South, or about 35 percent of the nation’s total. It should be noted that the South is home to slightly more than 40 percent of the U.S. population. The adjoining chart shows employment growth rates and lost jobs in each Southern state between October 2008 and October 2009.

Total Employment Growth October 2008 to October 2009

State	Rate	# of Jobs Lost

Maryland	-2.0	-51,200
Louisiana	-2.3	-44,000
Arkansas	-2.4	-28,500
Virginia	-2.4	-89,000
Oklahoma	-2.7	-43,400
Missouri	-2.8	-77,500
Texas	-2.9	-307,200
West Virginia	-2.9	-22,200
Mississippi	-3.0	-33,600
South Carolina	-3.2	-60,000
Tennessee	-4.0	-110,600
Kansas	-4.1	-57,800
Florida	-4.4	-339,600
Kentucky	-4.4	-81,900
North Carolina	-4.5	-185,800
Alabama	-4.8	-95,300
Georgia	-5.6	-228,000
South:	-3.4	-1,855,000
U.S.	-4.0	-5,265,000

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Deals are Back!

Take a look at the 10-largest job generating announcements made in the South in the fall 2009 quarter. You can find the list on page 72 (go to www.SB-D.com and under "Departments" click on "Top Deals.") Over the last four quarters, not including the fall, or since the economy really tanked, those 10-largest job announcements totaled 5,331 jobs (fall 2008); 7,700 jobs (winter 2008/2009); 9,850 jobs (spring 2009); and 7,574 jobs (summer 2009) respectively. In the recently concluded fall 2009 quarter, the 10-largest job generating announcements are projected to create exactly 15,000 jobs. Not only that, six of the 10 came from the automotive sector, which is even more encouraging.

Now, we know you can't judge whether an entire regional economy is back on its feet from just 10 big economic development deals. However, here is an interesting bit of research: SB&D's records show that the last time the 10-largest projects announced more than 15,000 jobs in the South was in the fall of 2004 when the 10-largest deals amounted to 19,985 jobs. Go to "archives" on www.SB-D.com to research the top 10 deals in the South every quarter since 2000.

Poll: Southerners Favor Federally Funded Programs to Create Jobs

The Winthrop Poll is a long-term survey initiative designed to keep public policy makers across the country in touch with the attitudes and opinions of citizens of the American South. Trained interviewers administer the polls at the telephone survey research lab on the campus of Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C. The 2009 survey included 866 random interviews of people 18 or older in several Southern states. This year's survey revealed some surprising and conflicting data, such as:

71.6 percent favor the federal government funding new programs to help create jobs
62.7 percent favor the federal government giving aid to states in serious financial trouble
28.1 percent favor giving aid to U.S. banks and other financial institutions
35.0 percent of Southerners polled said that the economic stimulus has made the economy better, 37.9 percent said it had no effect and 20.6 percent said it has made the economy worse
41.1 percent said they were not concerned about losing their jobs, 20.7 percent were not very concerned, 21.7 percent were concerned and only 16.2 percent were very concerned.
As for who is to blame for the recent economic crisis, here are the figures from the "blame a great deal" category: Banks: 47.8 percent; Large business corporations: 46.8 percent; Consumer debt: 42.5 percent; The Bush administration: 39.1 percent; The Obama administration: 17.9 percent.

Almost a Clean Sweep for the South in Business Climate Rankings

Site Selection magazine recently published its annual state business climate rankings and this year eight of the 10 states with the best business climates are Southern states. North Carolina topped the magazine's list followed by Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Kentucky. The only other U.S. states making the top 10 were Ohio and Indiana. The ranking was based on a survey of corporate real estate executives.

Milken Institute Publishes Best Performing Cities Ranking

Austin-Round Rock, Tex. topped the list of Best Performing Cities in the 2009 Milken-Greenstreet Real Estate Partners’ study. The study ranks U.S. metro areas by how well they are creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth. Following Austin at No. 2 was Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, Tex. Also making the ranking’s top 10 in the South were McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Tex.; Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Tex.; Durham, N.C.; Huntsville, Ala.; Lafayette, La.; and Raleigh-Cary, N.C.

MSN and Sperling Rank Most Livable Bargain Markets

Oklahoma City, Little Rock-North Little Rock, Columbia, S.C. and Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Tex., made the top 10 of a recent ranking published by MSN Real Estate. MSN Real Estate asked Bert Sperling of "Sperling's Best Places” to evaluate the most affordable housing markets from the 100-largest U.S. metro areas and pinpoint 10 of the most livable areas. Factored into the study were unemployment rates, commute times, entertainment and cultural amenities and housing affordability.

Forbes’ “Best Bang-for-the-Buck Cities"

Augusta, Ga. was recently cited by Forbes as a “Best Bang-for-the-Buck City.” In a similar study to MSN’s, Forbes recently published a ranking titled “America’s Best Bang-for-the-Buck Cities,” factoring in solid housing markets, stable employment, cost of living and commute times. Little Rock, Jackson, Miss., Augusta, Ga., Wichita, McAllen, Tex., and Chattanooga all made the ranking’s top 10.

Fortune Magazine Ranks Oklahoma City No. 1 for Small Business Startups

Fortune magazine and CNNMoney.com have recently ranked Oklahoma City No. 1 among large metro areas in the U.S. for small business startups. The publications describe Oklahoma City as "stable and affordable" boasting the second-lowest foreclosure rate among large U.S. metro areas. The city was also cited as being friendly to life-science industry startups and its high concentration of deep-pocketed local investors.

San Antonio Named Strongest Metro Economy by BusinessWeek

BusinessWeek named San Antonio, Tex. as the No. 1 metro economy in the U.S. in the fall quarter. Following San Antonio in the top 10 were eight other Southern markets including Austin-Round Rock, Oklahoma City, Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Baton Rouge, Tulsa, Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown and El Paso. Omaha, Neb. was the only U.S. market outside the South to make BusinessWeek's top 10 strongest metro economies. Jackson, Miss., McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Tex., Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, Columbia, S.C. and Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News were Southern markets ranked in the magazine's second 10.

Forbes: Virginia No. 1 for Business

For the fourth consecutive year, Forbes.com has named Virginia as the "Best State for Business" overall. Forbes' methodology uses gross state product, quality of life, labor and regulatory environments, workforce, educational attainment and cost of doing business among other factors to determine its best states for business. Virginia was followed by Washington, Utah, Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia, North Dakota, Texas, Nebraska and Oregon rounded out the top 10 list. In Forbes’ sub-rankings, Texas was named the top U.S. state for “Economic Climate” and Georgia was named the No. 1 “Regulatory Environment.”

Houston tops all Southern Metros in GMP

According to a new report from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Houston metro area had the largest gross metropolitan product in the South in 2008 with $403.2 billion. Houston is ranked fourth in the U.S. behind New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, which rank first, second and third for their output in 2008. Houston was followed by Washington, D.C. (5th), Dallas-Fort Worth (6th) and Atlanta (10th) in the South.

Brookings Cites Best Performing Metro Economies

Thirteen of the 20-strongest U.S. metro economies are in the South according to a ranking published recently by Brookings. Making the top 20 strongest economies in the South were Austin-Round Rock, Baton Rouge, Dallas-Forth Worth, El Paso, Houston, Little Rock, McAllen, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Tulsa, Hampton Roads and Washington D.C.