|
.!_
<br />
<br />Where
<br />
<br />Business
<br />
<br />Best
<br />
<br />New Jobs, busy stores,
<br />building sprees--all
<br />point to the broadening
<br />impact of a long
<br />economic comeback.
<br />
<br /> America's urban areas still hum from
<br />an economic expansion that began [[9
<br />months ago and, at tile local level,
<br />shosvs few signs of ebbing.
<br /> Jobs keep opening up--at a rapid
<br />pace in Atlanta, Minneapolis-St. Paul
<br />and Phoenix. Unmnployment rates are
<br />falling. People remain in a buying
<br />mood. Construction work, particularly
<br />along the East Coast, is humming. Eco-
<br />nomic pockmarks of the 1981-82 reces-
<br />sion, still plainly evident only a year
<br />ago in such cities as Pittsburgh, Hous-
<br />ton and Birmingham, are fadiug.
<br /> It is we]come news to Americans
<br />bombarded by reports of a "maturing"
<br />expansion, of a tidal wave of imports, of
<br />federal budget deficits that could drive
<br />up interest rates and of agricultural
<br />woes that squeeze both farmers and
<br />small-town bankers.
<br /> However worrisome those develop-
<br />ments might be, their impact on most
<br />urban economies has been slight, or
<br />balanced by gains in healthy industries.
<br /> llere's how regional bureaus of
<br /> U.S. News& World Report size up the
<br /> economies of major metropolitan areas:
<br />
<br /> East: On a Fast Track
<br /> New York City's broad-based econo-
<br /> my continues to bloom in what Thomas
<br /> Spitznas of Chemical Bank calls "a
<br /> good year, not a great year." Strong
<br /> sectors are construction, retailing, ser-
<br /> vices and government.
<br /> Manufacturing activity remains fiat,
<br /> victim of a strong dollar that puts U.S.
<br /> goods at a competitive disadvantage.
<br /> Yet imports swell business along New
<br /> York-area docks, where the tonnage of
<br /> imported goods rose 30 percent last
<br /> year, and all along the distribution
<br /> chain. "The strength of the dollar is
<br /> causing prices of goods we sell to come
<br /> down, and I think this is stimulating
<br />
<br />52
<br />
<br />Downtown Minnespolis. Twin Cities are snow-belt stand=uts.
<br />
<br />buying," says Jack Coldberg, manager of
<br />a Bronx wholesaler of electronic goods.
<br /> There's no joy on Wall Street. Broker-
<br />age houses continue to tighten belts as a
<br />lackluster stock market hinders reve-
<br />nnes. "Unless volume picks up," says
<br />Michael Lipper of Lipper Analytical
<br />Services, "we might see more layoffs."
<br /> Philadelphia continues its shift from a
<br />factory to a service economy. Last year
<br />was the first since 1978 to see a rise in
<br />employment in the city~a net gain of 4
<br />percent. Office construction thrives. A
<br />60-story tower on Market Street will be
<br />the first to eclipse the statue of William
<br />Penn, standing at 548 feet atop City
<br />Hall. Still, the city's unemployment rate
<br />is 11.1 percent.
<br /> President Reagan may vow to cut
<br />federal jobs, but you wouldn't know it
<br />to see the Washington, D.C., area. The
<br />region's jobless rate, at 4 percent, is
<br />one of the nation's lowest. Washington
<br />and its suburbs added 57,000 jobs last
<br />year, on top of 43,000 in 1983. Five big
<br />retail chains plan to invade the area.
<br /> Charlotte, N.C., is on a roll as well.
<br /> The first three months of 1985 saw the
<br /> creation of 2,400 'jobs. Royal Insurance
<br /> has broken ground for offices that will
<br /> mean 1,200 more jobs. International
<br /> Business Machines is finishing a plant
<br /> for making printers. Home building, at
<br /> an ailrtime high in 1984, keeps purring.
<br /> But Atlanta remains the hottest city
<br /> in the South. Coming off a year of tor-
<br /> rid growth~area employment rose by
<br /> 98,700 in 1984--Atlanta seems poised
<br /> for a repeat performance. Says Wayne
<br /> Gantt of Trust Company of Georgia:
<br /> "It's still booming~that's the only way
<br /> to describe it." Retailers, manufactur-
<br /> ers, builders, service firms--all are
<br /> prospering.
<br /> For those seeking jobs, Atlanta may
<br /> be to the mid-1980s w.hat Houston was
<br />
<br />to the late 1970s. Elbert Graham. 25,
<br />found work at an Atlanta hotel isur
<br />days after arriving from Oklahcma.
<br />Says Graham: "If a person really tries
<br />hard enough, he'll hnd the ty~ of
<br />work he's looking for here."
<br />
<br />Central: New Vigor, Old Woes
<br /> Even though depressed farm
<br />take a toll on small communities,
<br />urban areas fare considerably be:re
<br />Chicago's employment is up for
<br />first time in three years. St. Loms
<br />gaining jobs. So is Kansas City.
<br /> It was a rough decade for Chicago,
<br />losing 400,000 jobs as its suburbs gained
<br />600,000. But that may be changing The
<br />city added 103 new factories in 19M--
<br />the first increase since 1969. Retail ~ales
<br />rose 12 percent. "We're seeing now
<br />another regeneration of the city," ~ays
<br />Peter Beltemacchi, an urbanologL~ at
<br />Illinois Institute of Technology. But
<br />Chicago business leaders complain that'
<br />bitter infighting among Chicago p~liti-
<br />clans puts a brake on growth.
<br /> Everything looks up-to-date in Kan-
<br /> sas City. Downtown office buildzngs
<br /> are sprouting, and filling up, toc G.
<br /> Reid Teaney of Coldwell Banker says
<br /> Kansas City is attractive to developers:
<br /> "The market is relatively stable, the
<br /> cost of construction is cheaper than in
<br /> other parts of the country and m is
<br /> land." Still, as the financial and d~tri-
<br /> button center of America's w'be_at-
<br /> growing region, Kansas City is vulnera-
<br /> ble to troubles on the farms.
<br /> The face of St. Louis is ehangir~ as
<br /> well. Opening in July are a downt*swn
<br /> shopping mall, called St. Louis Centre,
<br /> and the Union Station complex. The
<br /> former railroad terminal--an architec-
<br /> tural landmark or a civic eyesore, de-
<br /> pending on who is asked--will home a
<br /> hotel, shops, restaurants and enter~n-
<br />
<br />U.S.NEWS & WORLD REPORT. April 29. r, 985
<br />
<br />
<br />
|