Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce Business Journal Q4 2014 | Page 39

Issue Sponsor:
Capitol Properties

MOUR COMMUNITY
rates that month were among the 10 fastest growing
economies in the nation.
For slumping economies, however, the story was often
quite different. Some of the metro areas with the largest
GMP drops had extremely high unemployment rates.
Among these was Yuma, Ariz., where an eye-popping
30.6% of the labor force was unemployed. Yet, both
Lafayette, La., and Charlottesville, Va., had two of the
lowest unemployment rates in the U.S. as of November
despite their economies contracting last year.
Based on the Conference of Mayors’ most recent
economic report, produced in conjunction with
forecasting company IHS Global Insight (IHS), 24/7
Wall St. identified the metropolitan statistical areas
with the largest growth and contraction in real gross
metropolitan product during 2013. Figures for 2013
GMP growth are estimates. Employment changes
for 2013, as well as forecasts for 2014, are also from
the report. Unemployment rates are from the Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS), are seasonally adjusted
and reflect figures from October. We also utilized
employment data from the BLS, as well as economic
statistics from the Census Bureau’s 2012 American
Community Survey.
These are America’s fastest-growing economies:
10. Trenton-Ewing, N.J.
• 2013 GMP change: 4.2%
• 2013 change in employment: 2.0% (tied-65th best)
• Projected 2014 GMP change: 1.5% (69th worst)
• Unemployment rate: 6.4% (143rd lowest)
The Trenton area’s economy grew at an increasingly
fast pace in each of the last three years. The area’s
GMP growth rate rose from 2.2% in 2011 to 4.2% la