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Only one area has avoided the recession: Bismarck
7/24/2009 |
MSNBC's continuing story "The Elkhart Project" recently posted an article noting the Bismarck-Mandan MSA as the only metropolitan area in the U.S. not to have fallen into recession.
Quoting a portion of the article:
Every area in recession — except one
Overall, the recession continued to spread in May. The Adversity Index shows that the recession reached every state, and all but one of the nation's 381 metro areas.
That holdout is Bismarck, N.D., which benefits from high prices for its energy products. Its housing prices also didn't run up as high as the rest of the country, so they haven't fallen so far either. Bismarck is becoming a transportation hub for the region. And the North Dakota state government is doing much better than average financially.
"If you're flat to what you were doing last year, that's the 'new up' in the economy. And we are fortunately a little bit up over last year," Stuart Tracy, chef and owner of Pirogue Grill, told NBC station KYFR. (See the video below.)
Bismarck has moved close to recession, labeled "at risk" by Moody's, without falling in yet.
"A slowing of personal income growth will lead to a mild contraction in employment in Bismarck," said economist Glenn Wingard of Moody's Economy.com, which sells reports on metro areas. "Its healthy housing market and low exposure to Wall Street write-downs will ensure that the downturn will be modest."
Read the entire article, as well as more in "The Elkhard Project" series, here. |
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