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Yeah - no complaints from Houston. Although, the rapid influx of people is definitely palpable. Cars with different license plates from all over are roaming the streets. The parts of town that are known for their walkability (yes, Houston has walkable parts of town) are seeing more foot traffic. The city is even taking strides to widen/extend/revamp old sidewalks that hadn't been used in a while.
Some native Houstonians complain about the added congestion/density but I like it (and welcome it!). The more new minds/fresh perspectives we can add to our little town down here, the better!!
now Indianapolis for example has an unemployment rate under 8% *National Average is 8.2% and should be higher* Indianapolis, IN Jobs on CareerBuilder.com To me that qualifies as a strong economy in these times. You have to consider both the Unemployment Rate *Competition to get a job* and Job openings. For a Metro of 2M people Careerbuilder.com by no means is going to post every job opening but i use it as a rule of thumb on how good a city is doing. Several Universities though have said Indianapolis should be back to Pre-Recession Employment before the end of this year. Well other areas like Illinois/California/New York may wait until past 2015 or never reach the full Pre-Recession Employment level.
Also Houston is doing well due to the fact Texas is #1 to do business in and people are setting up shop there more than any other state
8.0% unemployment is "strong"? I mean, it's certainly not terrible...but it's ranked 195th out of 372 metro areas.
Indy might be on the upswing, but it is, at best, very average at this point. I'd say <6.0% is strong.
Good thread! It should provide some interesting CD commentary. I'm surprised by the overall health of Cali. Only because on the surface, it's flagship cities are among the countries best from top-to-bottom.
Good thread! It should provide some interesting CD commentary. I'm surprised by the overall health of Cali. Only because on the surface, it's flagship cities are among the countries best from top-to-bottom.
California is a mixed bag right now. In some ways the state is doing great while in others we still have a long way to go in order to be in our top form.
I fully expect the state GDP data scheduled to be released in a few weeks to reveal that California's GDP surpassed the $2 Trillion mark in 2011, which would be a first for any US state.
On the other hand, we still need to create 1.5 Million jobs so while there is much to celebrate, we are hardly out of the woods.
I wouldnt be anywhere else tho, California is amazingly dynamic and resilient.
The "great" economy in DC is highly exaggerated. If DC's economy is sooo great, then why does the infamous Southeast quadrant of the District have the highest recorded unemployment rate of anywhere in America?! In 2012, people in Southeast and Northeast DC are just as poor and unemployed as when Marvin Gaye sang "Inner City Blues" back in the 70's:
The economy is terrible everywhere. The only people who don't think so are people who haven't been scathed by the very real economic downturn that is hurting tens of millions of Americans. In the case of DC, federal government jobs are the backbone of the area's spectacular affluence. However, getting a government job has become very difficult in recent years. There are many pointless tests that are used to weed most applicants out of the job pool for federal jobs. But if you are lucky enough to get a gov't job, the rest of your life is easy street. I know, I mostly live around gov't workers in wealthy suburban Maryland. Once you get a federal job, you will be making 80-100k+ a year plus benefits and are statistically more likely to drop dead than be fired once permanent. But if you can't snag a good gov't job, usually through personal connections, you are on the outside looking in. This is rampant in DC; a city full of aristocratic federal workers and a shiftless downtrodden underclass who hangs around the streets day and night while the rich live lives of excess and decadence in fine dining, wining and shopping.
You can watch Youtube videos all day at "work" on the taxpayer dime because the federal government produces nothing of value. Even many so-called "valuable" government employees like police officers are employed to do nothing but fight a futile war on drugs. That's right, Uncle Sam employs thousands of talentless bone-heads to arrest and imprison harmless pot smokers and weed sellers. This is the reason why America has the largest prison population in the world, people.
Unemployment rate only tells part of the story. Is it decreasing because the workforce is shrinking, or is it decreasing because enough jobs are being created to support a growing workforce?
Personally, I think a cross-examination of unemployment rate, workforce population and income growth would give us the best answers as to which MSAs are doing the best economically.
We are in the worst economic times in US history.Allot of cities thrived before the Recession, huge job growth and construction.Once the Recession hit,the effects of it varied with cities.What cities do you think are doing well?
^ this is basically the growth in incomes generated by those living in the area.
It would probably be best to adjust for population (or use a per cap figure; though job adds are factor overall as well) growth but on the whole is an indicator that people in the area (on average) are making mnore money and the % growth is the amount of this growth.
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