The Ogden-Clearfield region is leading the way out of the recession in Utah and in surrounding states, according to a quarterly economic report done on the Western region of the U.S.
But the quarterly data ending in March, released by Brookings Institution on Tuesday, shows most of the six Western states in the study are struggling to recover from the recession, slipping even further behind from the previous quarter's gains.
"Ogden asserted itself as the region's best-performing metro in the first quarter, helped by a relatively mild housing market correction and strong growth," wrote author Mark Munro, of Brookings Mountain West.
The report shows that a concentration of federal jobs in the Ogden-Clearfield region help make the area more "recession-proof" -- but three successive months of growth in goods and services production is fueling the region's recovery.
The federal government employs nearly 9 percent of the work force in Ogden, a level 4.4 times the national average and second only to metropolitan Washington, D.C.
The study also contends the Ogden metropolitan area has completely recovered in production output and surpassed prerecession levels of growth in goods and services.
"Still, jobs failed to materialize, and Ogden's unemployment rate continues to mount," Munro added.
Munro and his co-authors studied 31 metropolitan regions in Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Idaho, Colorado and Arizona.
The six states failed to make employment gains as fast as the top 100 metro regions in the U.S.
Brookings points out Ogden housing prices picked up in the quarter and a reduction in the number of homes in foreclosure -- houses owned by lenders -- outpaced all of Utah.
Around the state, Provo's consistently middle-of-the-road performance has put the metro on course to fully surpass its prerecession peak output next quarter, although employment remains more than 7.3 percent off its peak and the housing market has yet to reverse its downward trajectory.
The number of jobs in Salt Lake City fell by 1.5 percent in the first quarter of 2010 -- more than anywhere else in the region.
The Brookings economic study is called the Mountain Monitor and is done in partnership with the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.
LINK: To get a copy the report
LINK: This is a topic of discussion at the Weber County Forum
Comments