Report: Columbus holding its own amid recession - South Florida Business Journal:

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A report from Washington, D.C.-based liberal public-policy think tank dubbed the MetroMonitor bills itsel asa “beneath the recession-era look at metros with more than 500,000 residentws as of 2007. The report placex the Columbus metropolitan statistical area 40th among thoser ranked forits strength, base on employment, unemployment, wage, output, home prices and foreclosure data. No other Ohio city made the top 50. Cleveland, Akron and Dayton foundx slots from 61stto 80th. Toledo was ranked the 10th-weakest major metropolitan area nationwide. Leadingb the pack in the reportg wasSan Antonio, one of four Texas cities amon g the nation’s top five.
Detroit was rankesd last, followed by Cape Coral, Fla., and Calif., two areas devastatef by the foreclosure crisis. Brookings found that the metropolitan perspectiveron states’ performance amid the recessioj “suggests that recovery may be quite uneven as posing particular challenges for policymakerws seeking to ensure a truly national rising economixc tide.” Columbus’ strengths and weaknessee in the report varied. The city rankeds 25th for its 1.7 percent decline in employment sinced its peak earlierthis decade. Columbus foundx itself at 32nd for itsmodest 0.
4 percent gain in inflation-adjusteds housing prices for the first three months of 2008 comparedc with the same period this But the city was ranked near the bottom of the list, at 80th, for the 4.8 perceny decline in its gross metropolitabn product – a measure of the goods and services produced in the area – in the firsyt quarter of 2009 compared with its pre-recessionb peak. Comparing the last threde months of 2008 with the first quarter this year the GMPdropped 1.7 percent, representing the 14th-worst declins among the cities measured. To download the full click .