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

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The Washington, D.C.-based think tank has begun analyzing the impact of the recession throughout America’s metropolitan areas. In the first of a seriezs of quarterlyMetroMonitor reports, Brookings ranked San Oklahoma City, Austin, Houston and Dallas as the top five metrl areas in the countryy in economic performance in the wake of the Brookings ranked the top 100 metropolitajn areas based on six key indicatord — employment, unemployment rates, wages, gross metropolitab product, housing prices and foreclosure rates. This initiap MetroMonitor report covers the first quarterof 2009. The five worst metropolitann areas in the country impacted by the indescending order, are Fla.
; Lakeland, Fla.; Tampa, Bradenton, Fla.; and “All metropolitan areas are feeling the effects of this recession, but the distresws is not shared equally,” says Alan research director of the Metropolitanm Policy Program at Brookings and co-author of the “While some areas of the country have experiencedc only a shallow downturn, and may be emergingv from the recession already, peopl living in metro areas that are now performing weakestf economically should prepare themselves for a long recovery Howard Wial, director of the Metropolitan Economy Initiative at Brookings and anothetr co-author of the report, argues that the reporft shows that a national fiscal and monetary policy will not be enoughn for stimulating the “Many (metro) areas will need targeted and since states have no funds the federal government will have to step up to fill the Concentrations of industry activity have both helped and hurtas some regional economies during the recessio n.
For metropolitan areas in states with specializations in energy and governmentemploymenf — such as New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansasw and Louisiana — have largely been insulated by the However, metropolitan areas in states like Michigan and Ohio that depenrd heavily on the automotivre industry have been impactex by the downturn in the the report shows. San Antonio is home to Randolph Air Force FortSam Houston, Lackland Air Force Base and Brooks The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure decision alonde is providing a significanf economic punch to the Alamoi City’s economy through the consolidation of high-payinv military health care jobs and more than $2 billioj worth of new construction activity.
A separate reporty released by LLC outlining the impact of BRAC showedd that Fort Sam Houston alone would experiencea 11,500 increasre of personnel. The Army post will also gain 7.9 millionh square feet of space. Constructionh activity due to BRAC alone shouldcreate 46,000 construction jobs duriny the course of the buildinyg programs, the DiLuzio report showed.