Where jobs are being added (Memphis, Knoxville: real estate, 2013, co-op)

[JMT]

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has come out with its latest report on job growth among the nation's metropolitan areas. Here's how Tennessee's metro areas stacked up:

metropolitan area...Feb 2013 jobs...1 year change...% increase

Chattanooga...235,800...2,100...0.9%
Clarksville...87,400...1,100...1.3%
Cleveland...43,100...2,100...5.1%
Jackson...61,400...900...1.5%
Johnson City...78,900...(400)...-0.5%
Kingsport-Bristol...118,900...800...0.7%
Knoxville...333,100...6,700...2.1%
Memphis...600,000...6,600...1.1%
Morristown...44,700...100...0.2%
Nashville-Murfreesboro-Franklin...797,500...30,000...3.9%

Tennessee as a whole gained 54,200 jobs, a 2.0% growth rate, for a total of 2,720,700 workers. Thus, we see that the vast majority of new jobs in this state are in the metropolitan areas, and the Nashville area accounts for over half of the job growth of the entire state. In addition, the only metro areas in the entire Southeast with more job growth than Nashville are Atlanta, Miami, and Tampa. Even much-vaunted Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham have lower numbers than Nashville.

[Serious Conversation]

I'm really surprised to see Morristown in the positive. A hundred jobs is almost no net change, but every time I've been through there, it seems worse than the last time I went. I thought it would be in a terminal tailspin.

TN east of Knoxville looks to be completely stuck in the mud compared to the rest of the state. Morristown and Kingsport-Bristol are the worst positive numbers listed. Johnson City's numbers are probably due to the Mountain States layoffs. If you lump Kingsport-Bristol, Johnson City and Morristown just as "TN east of Knoxville," it only gained 500 net jobs out of a total size of 242,500 people. That's not even a quarter percentage point advance over the prior year.

I know there are more communities here, but those are even more rural and likely doing even worse. Considering 2012 was a fairly strong labor market in the "new normal," these numbers are disconcerting. If the smaller east TN communities were taken into account, I'd bet there was a net loss of jobs east of Knoxville.

I'm also surprised to see Nashville doing so well. Things must be really improving there.

[nashvols]

Originally Posted by Emigrations

I'm also surprised to see Nashville doing so well. Things must be really improving there.

It's not exactly a new trend.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Emigrations

I'm really surprised to see Morristown in the positive. A hundred jobs is almost no net change, but every time I've been through there, it seems worse than the last time I went. I thought it would be in a terminal tailspin.

TN east of Knoxville looks to be completely stuck in the mud compared to the rest of the state. Morristown and Kingsport-Bristol are the worst positive numbers listed. Johnson City's numbers are probably due to the Mountain States layoffs. If you lump Kingsport-Bristol, Johnson City and Morristown just as "TN east of Knoxville," it only gained 500 net jobs out of a total size of 242,500 people. That's not even a quarter percentage point advance over the prior year.

I know there are more communities here, but those are even more rural and likely doing even worse. Considering 2012 was a fairly strong labor market in the "new normal," these numbers are disconcerting. If the smaller east TN communities were taken into account, I'd bet there was a net loss of jobs east of Knoxville.

I'm also surprised to see Nashville doing so well. Things must be really improving there.

I was a little surprised at Morristown, too. I wonder if the numbers reflect the number of people in those MSAs who have jobs, or the number of jobs that are in those MSAs. In other words, if someone lives in Morristown but has a job in Knoxville, is it counted as a Morristown job or a Knoxville job? I know quite a few people from the Morristown area (particularly Jefferson County) who commute into Knoxville for work.

I'm glad to see that there's finally some positive job growth going on in Memphis. I wonder what needs to be done to get more jobs to the Tri Cities.

[jabogitlu]

I'm glad to see that there's finally some positive job growth going on in Memphis. I wonder what needs to be done to get more jobs to the Tri Cities.

So far the Tri-Cities has been largely ignored when it comes to state efforts at job creation. Hopefully Haslam's new cluster approach will work well for the Tri. If Memphis can successfully attract, train for and staff an Electrolux plant, the Tri-Cities could do something similar...

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by JMT

I was a little surprised at Morristown, too. I wonder if the numbers reflect the number of people in those MSAs who have jobs, or the number of jobs that are in those MSAs. In other words, if someone lives in Morristown but has a job in Knoxville, is it counted as a Morristown job or a Knoxville job? I know quite a few people from the Morristown area (particularly Jefferson County) who commute into Knoxville for work.

I'm glad to see that there's finally some positive job growth going on in Memphis. I wonder what needs to be done to get more jobs to the Tri Cities.

The Tri-Cities gets "jobs," but they are almost exclusively call center, retail, restaurants - junk jobs that could be farmshored to any poverty stricken area in any part of the county. Wages are low due to the types of jobs we have and real estate prices are driven up further than they should be by retirees from wealthier areas scooping up property "on the cheap" and driving up real estate prices in this "quaint" area up for everyone.

The area doesn't have an educated population, nor even a real way to make the residents competitive relative to the rest of the state. Local universities have no meaningful professional connections other than health care or education because that is what the collapsed local economy completely depends upon. I've also noticed that many local parents are apathetic if not downright hostile toward education, but I can't blame them - an education is useless here unless you want to be a medical worker or an educator.

The Tri-Cities are a long way from any major employment hubs and there aren't any reasons for most businesses to move to the Tri-Cities vs. better parts of TN. The state tax savings by relocating to TN vs. somewhere like IL can be realized in either Williamson or Unicoi Co. - the only differences would be savings on county/municipal level taxes, but why would a business cripple itself by relocating to Tri-Cities area counties vs. the Nashville/Knoxville metros? Virtually everything found in the Tri-Cities can be found in higher quality and larger amounts in the bigger TN metros.

[BP72]

"Tri Cities area loses more jobs in first quarter"

Job growth wasn’t in the region’s employment picture during this year’s first quarter, according to a Tri-Cities Labor Market Report released Tuesday.
“The economic outlook has become more uncertain — still dominated by the political paralysis in the nation’s capital,” said an analysis of the report compiled by the East Tennessee State University Bureau of Business and Economic Research. “The (Tri-Cities) region has seen four quarters of job losses which have wiped out part of the strong job gains from 2010 and 2011. The slowdown in national employment growth means that the Tri-Cities area cannot look for a (jobs) boost any time soon from this direction.”



More at ... Tri-Cities area loses more jobs in first quarter | Kingsport Times-News

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by BP72

"Tri Cities area loses more jobs in first quarter"

Job growth wasn’t in the region’s employment picture during this year’s first quarter, according to a Tri-Cities Labor Market Report released Tuesday.
“The economic outlook has become more uncertain — still dominated by the political paralysis in the nation’s capital,” said an analysis of the report compiled by the East Tennessee State University Bureau of Business and Economic Research. “The (Tri-Cities) region has seen four quarters of job losses which have wiped out part of the strong job gains from 2010 and 2011. The slowdown in national employment growth means that the Tri-Cities area cannot look for a (jobs) boost any time soon from this direction.”



More at ... Tri-Cities area loses more jobs in first quarter | Kingsport Times-News

Are there some sort of jobs dependent on Washington that I am unaware of? Why is it that politics is blamed for job loss in this area when other areas are gaining jobs? Anyone know?

[BP72]

I think (and I could be wrong) it is with the uncertainty of policies or what have you in government. We heard from the Eastman Rep. during a Co-Op briefing that the reason they are not taking as many people in the Co-Op program is that people are scared to retire with not knowing how things will play out in the future. So it is stagnating jobs right there.

I am looking through a narrow scope of trying to get a welding job now (I have graduated now). What I see locally in that field is not good at all. Is it because of The Feds or Local Gov.? I really don't know. I do know lots jobs in general have left and not really being replaced. Whatever the cause.. what is the fix? Put pressure on the Local Gov.? State Gov.?

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by BP72

I think (and I could be wrong) it is with the uncertainty of policies or what have you in government. We heard from the Eastman Rep. during a Co-Op briefing that the reason they are not taking as many people in the Co-Op program is that people are scared to retire with not knowing how things will play out in the future. So it is stagnating jobs right there.

I am looking through a narrow scope of trying to get a welding job now (I have graduated now). What I see locally in that field is not good at all. Is it because of The Feds or Local Gov.? I really don't know. I do know lots jobs in general have left and not really being replaced. Whatever the cause.. what is the fix? Put pressure on the Local Gov.? State Gov.?

But other parts of the state aren't having the same issues. Granted, places like Cleveland now have Amazon, but not all cities had new businesses move in due to sweetheart deals from the state. Knoxville is doing fine, as are other cities, and they are still in the same country.

That's the point I'm trying to make. Unless there is a lot of industry there that is dependent on the Fed, I think it is just a colossal excuse. I suspect "Emigrations" obsservations are pretty accurate. And Eastman is a horse of a different color. Companies that don't change with the times sink.