El Paso thrives on growth index
September 16, 2008
El Paso's 2.61 percent job growth rate from March 2007 to March 2008 was eighth best among the 200 metro areas. Its five-year job growth was slightly better than the national average.
Written by Vic Kolenc , The El Paso Times
EL PASO -- Recent job growth allowed El Paso to take a giant leap on the Milken Institute's Best-Performing Cities Index, which ranks metro areas on growth of jobs, wages and technology output.
El Paso was the most improved metro area on the index of 200 metropolitan areas -- moving up 85 spots from 122 last year to 37 this year.
Provo, Utah, ranked first.
El Paso's 2.61 percent job growth rate from March 2007 to March 2008 was eighth best among the 200 metro areas. Its five-year job growth was slightly better than the national average.
"I think a lot of the (job) growth is being driven by expansion of the military base (Fort Bliss) and population growth in general," said Armen Bedroussian, a research economist at the Milken Institute, a think tank in Santa Monica, Calif. It did the economic ranking with Greenstreet Real Estate Partners.
El Paso and other cities which made big gains on the index didn't experience big declines in their housing markets as many parts of the country did, Bedroussian said.
Las Cruces also moved up in Milken's separate rankings for 124 small cities. Las Cruces went from 17th to 11th. White Sands Missile Range and Fort Bliss also are important to growth in Las Cruces, Bedroussian said.
Midland, Texas, ranked first among small cities.
Bob Cook, president of the El Paso Regional Economic Development Corp., said the Milken Institute study is one of the most respected by economic developers in the U.S.
"It's one that probably gives a better snapshot of how your economy is performing compared to other economies in the nation," Cook said. "El Paso is really performing counter to many of the national trends right now" with increasing home values, declining foreclosures, and "healthy job growth."
"We will tout this with companies and site consultants," Cook said.
El Paso didn't rank as well in the index's barometer of technology output and concentration of high-tech industries. El Paso's output from 25 high-tech industries measured in the study was 35 percent below the national average.
It ranked 31st in technology output over the past five years, 112th in technology output from 2006 to 2007, and 121st for the number of high-tech industries with significant output.
Only four high-tech industries in El Paso had a higher output concentration than the national average: semi-conductor and other electronic component manufacturing, data processing centers, wired telecommunications services, and wireless telecommunications services.
How selected cities ranked among 200 metro areas in job growth and high-tech output in the latest Best Performing Cities study and how it ranked last year:
1. Provo, Utah (8)
2. Raleigh, N.C. (10)
4. Austin (20)
7. McAllen, Texas (7)
13. Killeen, Texas (33)
15. San Antonio (43)
16. Houston (32)
23. Dallas (59)
31. Albuquerque (31)
32. Phoenix (4)
37. El Paso (122)
55. Tucson, Ariz., (15)
75. Las Vegas (9)
126. Los Angeles (109)
133. Reno, Nev. (26)
Source: Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners 2008 Best-Performing Cities Index.
For more information: http://bestcities.milkeninstitute.org.
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