BR economy rated among best in U.S.

• By GARY PERILLOUX
• Advocate business writer
• Published: Jun 17, 2009 - Page: 1A

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The Brookings Institution, among the nation’s most-influential policy groups, ranks Baton Rouge No. 8 among the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas for economic performance during the recession.

In the study released today, New Orleans ranks in the second-worst tier of cities — Brookings ranks them in groups of 20 — because some data dates back to pre-Hurricane Katrina periods when Louisiana’s largest city enjoyed greater prosperity and a bigger population.

For Baton Rouge, the Brookings findings echo what the region’s chamber has been telling business prospects for months: Things are better here.

“This is the most comprehensive study we’ve seen, and it validates how strong our economy really is,” said Adam Knapp, chief executive of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, which has scrutinized every blip in the economy since September for signs of the 18-month recession’s encroachment into the region.

BRAC mailed out copies of an October report from Business Week magazine to site selection consultants, showing Baton Rouge as one of the best cities for riding out the recession. The presentation highlighted construction in downtown Baton Rouge, where cranes towered over commercial projects.

Construction, stable government employment and a volatile but relatively strong energy sector are cited by Brookings researchers for buoying the Louisiana capital’s economy.

“One lesson is for whatever reason you happen to have specialized in education, government, health care, energy — you’ve weathered this recession pretty well,” said Alan Berube, a senior fellow at Brookings. “That may or may not have been an intentional thing.”

San Antonio ranked No. 1 and Detroit was No. 100 in the MetroMonitor study that Brookings has completed for the first time and will continue quarterly to gauge performance and recovery during the recession. Only metros with 500,000 or more people were included, so metros the size of Houma and Lafayette weren’t studied.

In the recession eight years ago, the financial services and housing sectors fared well, and information technology was the sector hardest-hit, Berube said. The next economic downturn may hit still other sectors, but financial services and housing have taken it on the chin in the current recession that began in late 2007, he said.

Most of the Brookings data tracks job, housing and other data from the first quarter of 2008 through the end of this year’s first quarter. However, measurement of the percentage change in employment and in gross metropolitan product from the historical peak for each city is what hurt New Orleans.

The gross metropolitan product, or the value of all goods and services produced in a metro economy, peaked in New Orleans in the final quarter of 2004, before Katrina, Berube said. That’s also when the city’s employment peaked.

Baton Rouge peaks came during 2008 and haven’t declined much. The nine-parish region had the third-best performance for how far job levels have fallen from their peak: just three-tenths of 1 percent, compared with 2.9 percent nationally.

Baton Rouge ranks 5th nationally among the 100 largest metros for the lowest unemployment rate: 5.2 percent versus 9 percent for the nation.