How’s Virginia faring in the recession? Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads are doing well among the nation’s metropolitan areas. Richmond is about in the middle.
That’s the conclusion of a new Brookings Institution study of the nation’s top 100 metro areas.See: http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2009/06_metro_monitor.aspx.
All in all Virginia isn’t in bad shape, the study implies. Hardest hit areas include California, such as the Bay Area, Los Angeles and the Central Valley and most of Florida. The rust belt from western Pennsylvania, across northern Ohio and on into Michigan are also hard hit. The strongest single area seems to be the central Southwest, including most of Texas and Oklahoma. The Northeast is mixed as is the Deep South.
The obvious reason for NOVA’s and Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News’ strength is the federal government. Both areas are filled with civil service and defense jobs.
Richmond is a little harder to explain. With its chemical plants and cigarette factories, the Richmond area is more of a blue collar manufacturing area than its Old Dominion sisters. Although it is the seat of state government, Virginia’s public sector is taking its lumps with significant layoffs and budget shortfalls.
Raleigh-Durham, another point of comparison for Richmond, fares better, Brookings reports. There are similarities with tobacco and state jobs, but the North Carolina capital region is home to the Research Triangle and its many pharmaceutical and health care jobs that are more recession-proof and simply outclass what Richmond has to offer.
Brookings implies that we may be on the way to a weak economic recovery. I’ll take that. After the past 18 months, I’ll take anything.
Peter Galuszka
