Economic Recovery in Tennessee? (Memphis, Knoxville: sales, home sales, unemployment rate)

[Grizzlybear34]

A question was posed to me and I knew where to come and get the answer! Or opinions??

Using our above sub forums by major/mid major metropolitan areas, which part of Tennessee will begin to economically recover more quickly? I have read that Chattanooga is already in early signs of recovery and this will only speed up with the introduction of Volkswagen to the region. But I am curious about the whole state of Tennessee, what areas will recover more quickly, and what studies are being used to determine this??

Thanks for all responses.

[hiknapster]

I know that Knoxville has the lowest unemployment of the major metropolitan areas in the state. It is also second lowest in all of the MSAs. And that has been steady throughout the recession.

We were one of the last to even feel a recession, it didn't hit us very hard, and we are quickly recovering.

Now, having said that, Chattanooga has at least begun to gain some ground regarding the unemployment rate in the past six months and I think that is probably due to the VW plant, in one way or another.

We originally were going to move to Chattanooga, back in 2005, but due to jobs we didn't. For a myriad of reasons I am glad that we ended up in Knoxville.

Having said that, because of that plant, and the fallout around it, I may not always be able to brag like this. We will see. Knoxville has always had a diverse economy and been able to hold its own, no matter what.

Our home sales from January of last year, compared to this year, are excellent, by the way, up by 12.2 percent. And our median sales price is up 6.1 percent.
Close to home: Knoxville's housing market is picking up - USATODAY.com (http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/closetohome/2010-03-08-knoxville-tennessee-homes_N.htm - broken link)

I've read various information about the rest of the state and the numbers have been all over the place. The one area that I see consistently not doing well is Morristown. Granted, there are counties in this state that have done poorly for decades, but Morristown seems to be taking a steady nosedive. It's unemployment rate is 14 percent for January. In December it was 12.7. That's scary.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.t01.htm

[maximus10]

Here's a link that says Memphis is recovering from recession as well. It also says that Chattanooga, Clarksville, Cleveland, and Johnson City are doing the same. I got my degree in Economics from the UofM, so I keep track of this kind of stuff. Tennessee has been a state that has done quite well through the recession despite its high unemployment. And that's mainly b/c unemployment is really high outside of Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville. The rural counties in Tennessee have suffered the most under this recession. The rust belt/snow belt regions of the U.S. are the ones that will probably recover last, if they ever do. Their economies weren't very diversified, therefore when the auto industry went to hell, so did their bottom line.

Report: Memphis recovering from recession - Memphis Business Journal:

[JMT]

Originally Posted by maximus10

Here's a link that says Memphis is recovering from recession as well. It also says that Chattanooga, Clarksville, Cleveland, and Johnson City are doing the same. I got my degree in Economics from the UofM, so I keep track of this kind of stuff. Tennessee has been a state that has done quite well through the recession despite its high unemployment. And that's mainly b/c unemployment is really high outside of Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville. The rural counties in Tennessee have suffered the most under this recession. The rust belt/snow belt regions of the U.S. are the ones that will probably recover last, if they ever do. Their economies weren't very diversified, therefore when the auto industry went to hell, so did their bottom line.

Report: Memphis recovering from recession - Memphis Business Journal:

Memphis has the highest unemployment rate among Tennessee's large metros and was also just named the "hunger capital of the US" because it has the largest percentage of residents (26%) who can't afford to buy their own food (according to Gallup and the nonprofit Feeding America). I would imagine that would be a drag on its economic recovery.

[jabogitlu]

Johnson City is doing very well through the recession. There's an article in the paper: JohnsonCityPress.com - Local News - Johnson City, TN

There have been job losses as with everywhere else, notably the Bosch plant. And city officials have said that since NETN moved into the recession 6 months later than most of the rest of the country, we'll get out of it 6 months later (not sure how that reasoning works out, but.... just passing it along, lol).

[LauraC]

Unemployment

"Tennessee's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February 2010 was 10.7 percent, unchanged from the January rate of 10.7 percent. The United States unemployment rate for the month of February was 9.7 percent.
County non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for February 2010, released today, show that the rate decreased in 78 counties, increased in 10 counties and remained the same in seven counties."

February 2010 County Unemployment Rates | TN.gov Newsroom

Chart (scroll down for the counties and even further down for the cities):

http://www.tennessee.gov/labor-wfd/l...2010county.pdf

Unemployment by state:

http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/mstrtcr2.pdf

By Industry in Tennessee:

Tennessee Economy at a Glance

I believe March's figures come out today or tomorrow.

[jabogitlu]

Looks like Knox County and Williamson county have the lowest unemployment rates by county. Not too shabby. Newport drags Knoxville CSA's rates waaay down.

[hiknapster]

The US unemployment rate will come out tomorrow. It will be a longer wait to get it broken down more than that. I can tell you that it is expected that the rate will remain at 9.7 percent and that 190,000 payrolls will be added. That's only anticipated, though.

Lincoln County has the lowest unemployment rate, followed by Knox. It has been like that through the entire recession. However, this time, Williamson County is tied with Knox for second place.