Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce Business Journal Q4 2014 | Page 38

America’s 10
Fastest-Growing Economies
Article originally published in USA Today
Alexander E.M. Hess, Michael B. Sauter and Thomas C. Frohlich, 24/7 Wall St.
National economic growth has a similar effect on
smaller local economies throughout the country.

Miss., and are hubs of oilfield and shipping, respectively.

An important factor that can boost a local economy is
trade, either with other parts of the U.S. or with other
countries, Alec Friedhoff, senior research analyst at the
Brookings Institution, told 24/7 Wall St. “Most of these
places all have similar levels of locally-serving jobs —
doctors, dentists, barbers, that kind of thing
— but the question is how are these places
”An important factor bringing in [outside] income,” Friedhoff
that can boost a said. Midland and Odessa, the nation’s
local economy is two fastest growing economies last year,
both produce oil, which is always in high
trade, either with demand, while shipbuilding is a major
other parts of the contributor to the Pascagoula economy.

It’s been a slow recovery, but according to a recent
report, economic growth is expected to pick up in the
coming years. The nation’s economy grew by 1.9% in
2013. This year, the economy is projected to grow by
2.7%, and in 2015, it is forecast to
grow by another 3.2%.

As nationwide growth accelerates,
more and more local economies are
expected to grow as well. While as
many as 97 local economies shrank
last year, the gross metro product
(GMP) of only seven metro areas is
U.S. or with other
Local economies often rely on one
expected to decline this year. In the
countires...”
production or trade sector. As long as the
case of Shreveport-Bossier City,
sector is booming, it can be a source of
La., the economy shrank more than
economic and job growth, but there can be a downside
5%. On the other side of the spectrum, the economy
to this reliance. Local economies often follow the cycles
of Midland, Tex., grew by 7.5%, the most in the
of large companies manufacturing products for the global
nation. Based on data published by the Conference
markets in their backyards, according to Friedhoff. “If
of Mayors and produced by IHS Global Insight, these
you’re a small metro area depending on a vulnerable
are the nation’s fastest-growing and fastest-shrinking
export sector, once that industry goes, you’re in big
economies.
trouble,” Friedhoff said. In one prominent example of this,
Caterpillar cut hundreds of jobs in Decatur last year in
Many of the nation’s economies that contracted the
response to a global slowdown in the mining industry.
most do not share much in common. These cities are
Decatur’s economy shrank by nearly 5% last year, and no
geographically diverse, located from the Northeast
metro area had a larger proportional job loss.
to the Gulf Coast and the Midwest. They also have
very different economies. Charlottesville, Va., and
Binghamton, N.Y., are home to large universities,
while in Decatur, Ill., the largest employers are in the
manufacturing sector.
While not all the metro areas with the fastest-growing
GMPs in 2013 share the same traits, many are
benefiting from the U.S. energy boom. Midland and
Odessa, Texas, benefit directly from energy production
in their areas, while Fargo, N.D., and Pascagoula,

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In metro areas, where economic growth is strong, jobs
frequently follow. Many of the nation’s fastest-growing
metro areas also had rapid job growth. Both Bismarck,
N.D., and Midland, Tex., were among the top 10 cities in
each measure. Just one top rated metro area, TrentonEwing, N.J., had slower job growth than the U.S. overall.
Unemployment was also typically low in many of the
fastest growing areas, with all but one having lower
unemployment rates than the U.S. November rate of 7%.
Also, the four metro areas with the lowest unemployment