US Conference of Mayors Economic Report Extremely Grim

The US Conference of Mayors has released their report on economic conditions and their projections for what will happen concerning unemployment for 2009, and the report is extremely grim with virtually every metropolitan area in the nation losing employment, some rather significantly. The really bad thing is that this report tends to be conservative in its forecasts which means things are going to get really bad, and talk of national official unemployment nearing 11 % within the year are now becoming increasingly probable.

For metros in the Mountain States region, the news is no better. Here is a list of metro areas in the region and the report's outlook:

raw unemploy increase......... %, '08 - '09 (4th qtr)
AZ
Flagstaff.................................1,300........5.7......7.9
Lake Havasu/Kingman........1,200........7.6...10.5
Phoenix Metro....................51,000........5.6.....7.8
Prescott..................................1,600........6.2.....8.6
Tucson....................................9,900........5.8.....8.2
Yuma......................................1,200.......18.3...24.2

CO
Boulder.................................. 4,700.........5.2.....8.1
Colorado Springs...................2,400.........7.2...10.6
Denver Metro.....................30,600.........6.2.....9.4
Fort Collins/Loveland..........2,600.........5.4.....8.4
Grand Junction.....................2,100..........5.0....8.0
Greeley..................................2,200..........6.6..10.2
Pueblo....................................1,300..........7.9...12.1

ID
Boise/Nampa........................1,800..........5.2.....5.9
Coeur D'Alene.......................1,000..........6.3.....7.8
Idaho Falls............................... 600..........3.9.....4.8
Lewiston....................................400..........5.5.....6.6
Pocatello.....................................700..........4.8.....5.7
Spokane WA...........................4,100..........6.6.....8.8

MT
Billings......................................1,000.........3.8.....4.8
Great Falls..................................500.........4.5......5.7
Missoula..................................... 400.........4.8......6.0

NV
Carson City...............................1,100.........7.7......8.7
Reno...........................................8,500........7.3......8.4
Las Vegas Metro.....................35,700........7.2.....8.3

NM
Albuquerque..............................4,400........5.3.....7.1
Amarillo TX................................1,900........4.1.....5.1
El Paso TX..................................1,000........7.1.....9.3
Farmington.................................1,000.......4.7.....6.3
Las Cruces.....................................200........5.5.....7.2
Lubbock TX................................2,100........4.3.....5.4
Midland TX................................ 1,800........3.3.....4.2
Odessa TX...................................1,600........3.9.....4.9
Santa Fe..........................................300........4.4.....5.8

UT
Logan,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,600.........2.8....3.7
Provo/Orem.................................1,200........3.7,,,,4.7
Salt Lake Metro............................7,400.......3.8....4.8
St George........................................+100.......5.3....6.8

WY
Casper.............................................1,000.......3.9....5.0
Cheyenne............................................700.......5.2....6.5
Rapid City SD.....................................600.......3.2....3.9

As the forecasts for the region show, most places will be impacted less than one will be experienced on the national level, with the exceptions of Phoenix and Las Vegas. Some other smaller cities in Colorado and Arizona look to be impacted on a greater level than most other places in the region and probably nationally. And St George UT is one of only a couple places projected to increase employment, albeit in a tiny way.

http://usmayors.org/77thWinterMeeting/documents/usmer-report-200901.pdf

http://usmayors.org/77thWinterMeeting/documents/usmer-reportkeyfindings-200901.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Conference_of_Mayors

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