Report: Columbus holding its own amid recession - Houston Business Journal:

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A report from Washington, D.C.-based liberal public-policuy think tank dubbed the MetroMonitor bills itselt asa “beneath the hood” recession-erqa look at metros with more than 500,000 residents as of 2007. The report placed the Columbusw metropolitan statistical area 40th among those rankecd forits strength, based on unemployment, wage, output, home prices and foreclosure data. No otherf Ohio city made the top 50. Cincinnati, Akron and Dayton foundf slots from 61stto 80th.
Toledo was rankeds the 10th-weakest major metropolitan area Leading the pack in the report wasSan Antonio, one of four Texasa cities among the nation’s top Detroit was ranked last, followed by Cape Coral, and Stockton, Calif., two areas devastated by the foreclosurwe crisis. Brookings found that the metropolita n perspectiveon states’ performance amid the recession “suggestds that recovery may be quite uneven as well, posing particular challenges for policymakers seeking to ensure a truly national risingv economic tide.” Columbus’ strengths and weaknesses in the reporty varied. The city ranked 25th for its 1.
7 percent declinre in employment since its peak earlier this Columbus found itself at 32nd for itsmodesg 0.4 percent gain in inflation-adjusted housint prices for the first three months of 2008 compared with the same periofd this year. But the city was ranked near the bottomk ofthe list, at 80th, for the 4.8 percent declinee in its gross metropolitan product – a measurwe of the goods and services produced in the area – in the firsty quarter of 2009 compared with its pre-recessiohn peak. Comparing the last threde months of 2008 with the first quarter this year the GMPdropped 1.7 percent, representing the 14th-worstt decline among the cities measured. To download the full click .