OGDEN -- Weber, Davis and Morgan counties are recovering better from the lingering national recession than nearly all other metropolitan areas in the Intermountain West, according to a new national report.
The fourth quarter 2009 Mountain Monitor report was produced by Brookings Mountain West, a partnership between the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.
Using data on employment, unemployment, output, home prices and foreclosures, the report charts economic recovery for the Intermountain West's 10 largest metropolitan areas including the Ogden-Clearfield Metropolitan Statistical area, which includes Weber, Davis and Morgan counties.
The report also compares those areas with the nation's 100 largest metros.
The Ogden-Clearfield metro area isn't completely out of the woods in terms of economic recovery but is making good progress, Jonathan Rothwell, a senior research analyst for the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy program, said Wednesday.
"It's not fully recovered by any means, but it looks to be paving the way in the region and in some cases the nation in rebounding," he said.
Mayor Matthew Godfrey said it's gratifying the Ogden area's recovery from the recession has been confirmed by Brookings Mountain West.
The Ogden-Clearfield and Albuquerque, N.M., metro areas are the only ones in the Intermountain West that have fully achieved pre-recession output peaks in terms of the total value of goods and services produced, the report says.
"Ogden is an average metro in terms of the diversity of its economy across different sectors and its level of education attainment, but it had exceptionally rapid export growth leading up to the recession, which is strongly associated with better gross metropolitan product performance," the report says.
Software publishing output in the Ogden-Clearfield metro increased 10-fold from 2003 to 2008 and print publishing increased almost four-fold, helping the area export millions in royalties to Europe and East Asia from companies such as Electronic Arts in Bountiful, says the report.
While employment recovery continues to elude the Intermountain West, only the Albuquerque and Ogden-Clearfield metros achieved job growth from the third to fourth quarters of 2009, according to the report.
"For Albuquerque and Ogden, growth was driven by the large and relatively healthy public sector, which includes employees of public education and public medical institutions," the report says.
The public sector accounted for 23 percent of all jobs in the Albuquerque metro and 26 percent in the Ogden-Clearfield areas. Strong growth in the accommodation and food service industries helped to offset on-going losses in construction.
Utah's major metros, which include, Provo, Salt Lake City, and Ogden--Clearfield are all comparatively highly-educated and rank nationally among the 10 metros least affected by joblessness, the report indicates.
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