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Spokane takes economic hit, study says- Loss of high-paying jobs pushes city down in Milken survey

June 26, 2003 /

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A California research group says Spokane took a major economic nose dive in 2002 compared with the performance of other large cities.

Tom Sowa
Staff writer The Spokesman Review

The Milken Institute, based in Santa Monica, Calif., reports that Spokane fell from 98th to 157th last year based on a variety of economic measures.

The nonprofit institute has been measuring the country’s metropolitan cities on job and wage growth for four years.

The rankings, published today at http://www.milkeninstitute.org, are based on government numbers collected at the end of 2001 and 2002.

"The headline for Spokane was a big loss (in 2002) in jobs, especially in manufacturing," said Ross DeVol, the primary author of the study.

Spokane’s economy lost nearly 1,000 jobs in 2002, according to labor statistics.

"The jobs lost were at Kaiser, Boeing and elsewhere, and they were high-paying jobs," DeVol said.

In the category of one-year job growth from 2001 to 2002, Spokane ranked 195th — meaning only five other cities in the top 200 did worse.

DeVol originally conducted research for Forbes magazine, which ranks cities on "best places to do business."

This past year, Forbes introduced different criteria and didn’t use DeVol’s data. In the latest Forbes ranking, Spokane landed at No. 100 out of 150 large metros, down two spots from the year before.

In 1999, the first time DeVol tracked the rankings for Forbes, Spokane ended up 161 out of 162 cities.

In this year’s Milken ranking, the top-ranked city is Fayetteville-Rogers, Ark. A year ago, Fayetteville scored 23rd in the Milken study.

The mid-sized city and others like Anchorage, Alaska, and Fresno, Calif., gained ground this time because of "steady growth" in retail and mainstream industries, said DeVol. It helped that Fayetteville’s metro area includes Bentonville, the home of the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart.

The other top nine metros this year are: Las Vegas; Fort Myers, Fla.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; San Diego; San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Laredo, Texas; Brownsville, Texas; McAllen, Texas; and Monmouth, N.J.

Bigger cities that had been highfliers in the tech boom are sinking fast in the Milken ranking.

Seattle, for instance, fell from 92nd to 138th this time. Boise, a lofty No. 6 last year, sank to No. 72. San Jose, Calif., a one-time No. 1 in the Milken ranking, fell to 147, according to the latest data.

The Milken report also ranked 96 "smaller" metros. The top three smaller cities were Iowa City, Iowa; Tyler, Texas; and Las Cruces, N.M.

The fourth-best small metro is Billings.

DeVol said some cities, like Billings and Anchorage, are gaining a post-9/11 lift due to domestic tourism. Travelers who used to fly overseas are spending their money taking Alaskan cruises or visiting areas like Yellowstone National Park, according to DeVol.

An 8 percent annual increase in visitors at Yellowstone is creating new jobs in nearby cities like Billings, and that partly accounts for its ranking, he said.

The full study is available at http://www.milkeninstitute.org.

•Business writer Tom Sowa can be reached at (509) 459-5492 or at [email protected]

LARGE METROS

City….. 2003 Rank….. 2002 Rank…..

Tacoma….. 58….. 102…..

Olympia….. 63….. 78…..

Richland-Kennewick-Pasco….. 69….. 75…..

Boise….. 72….. 6…..

Seattle-Bellevue-Everett….. 138….. 92…..

Portland-Vancouver, Wash…… 141….. 55…..

Bremerton….. 153….. 137…..

Spokane….. 157….. 98…..