Conference of Mayors Predicts Gloomy Employment Picture for 2009

The United States Conference of Mayors and the Council for the New American City recently released employment forecasts for all metropolitan areas across the country. Out of 363 metros, only two are projected to see employment rise in 2009 — St. George, Utah and McAllen-Edinburgh-Mission, Texas.
The Kansas City metro area is forecast to lose 20,100 jobs in 2009, or 2 percent of the regional total. This predicted decline is right on par with the national metro average, which would indicate that the impact of this recession will be approximately the same here as the nation overall. The decline also matches the projected employment loss from MARC’s 2009 economic forecast, which predicted just under 20,000 jobs lost in calendar year 2009.
The impact of this recession appears to be more focused on some Sunbelt metros. The Florida metros of Miami, Jacksonville and Tampa-St. Petersburg, along with Las Vegas, Nev. and San Jose, Calif., are among the large metros expected to see employment drop by 3 percent or more. Not coincidentally, these metros were also among the leaders in housing value growth. As a result, the popping of the housing bubble has had its greatest impact there.