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OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma City is the most recession-proof city in the nation and Salt Lake City is in the top 10, according to Forbes.com, the magazine's Web site.
Salt Lake City ranked No. 9 in the Forbes list. Though Salt Lake City's unemployment rate is rising, it's still among the lowest of the country's 50 largest cities. The state is still creating jobs, just not as quickly as its labor force is growing. A November 2007 report from the U.S. Conference of Mayors projected that Salt Lake City would be one of the few large cities in the country not to suffer a decline in gross metropolitan product from the mortgage crisis, the magazine said.
In Salt Lake City, where the median home price rose 2.5 percent and unemployment, at 3.1 percent, is below the 5.1 percent national average, growth in education and health services is expected to be 5.5 percent, according to Forbes.
While cities across the country are facing tough times because of declining home prices, rising unemployment and contracting economies, Oklahoma City's trend has been the opposite, Forbes.com said.
Among the top 50 metro areas, Oklahoma City has seen falling unemployment, solid growth in the energy, agriculture and manufacturing sectors and possesses one of the strongest housing markets in the country, Forbes.com noted in its "America's Recession-Proof Cities" article.
The city "might not have received the recession memo" and looks like it's in the best position to ride out the current economic crisis, the article said.
Oklahoma City saw growth in the leisure and hospitality industry and construction sectors, according to Forbes.com, which looked at unemployment data supplied by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the year ending in February 2008.
Forbes.com also examined the BLS data from the same period on job growth in non-farm payrolls for such areas as construction, education and health services, leisure and hospitality and manufacturing.
San Antonio was ranked second on the list. Also in the top 10: Austin, Houston and Dallas, Texas; Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C.; San Jose, Calif.; Salt Lake City and Seattle. |
