Quote:
Originally Posted by Tuckerman
Job growth also reflects the decline in unemployment over this period. so it may not be tied just to population growth which is a different contributor.
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Right. A lot of the job growth is a reflection of "how bad were the job losses in the previous five years".
For example, DC has minimal growth, and Phoenix and IE had crazy growth. But that's largely a reflection of the fact that DC never really went into recession, and Phoenix and IE had horrible downturns. Both have economies tied to housing construction, which cratered during the recession.
The (relatively) good Detroit numbers are a reflection of the previous regional depression, so any return to normalcy will show healthy growth. If Detroit never cratered, its numbers would be worse, probably in line with Cleveland, Buffalo and Pittsburgh.
The numbers for Seattle are particularly impressive (though not surprising) because Seattle didn't previously crater. Obviously tech-oriented metros are largely responsible for this latest expansion. Though when there's a downturn, I bet Seattle will temporarily have worse-than-average growth, simply because it's going all-cylinders now, so normalcy will look bad.