Caribou Gear

Arizona Recession [ I disagree]

cjcj

New member
Joined
Jan 22, 2003
Messages
4,437
Location
Northern.MEXICO
<LI class=toolsEmail> Arizona is now in recession

Moody's: Valley bad, but Tucson in worse shape

Betty Beard - May. 9, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

The Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas, as well as the state of Arizona, are in a recession, economists at Moody's Economy.com have declared.

The company first concluded several weeks ago that Arizona was in a recession and, in a separate report released Thursday, said that metro Phoenix is "firmly" in one.

Industries are shedding jobs, the housing market remains tumultuous, the mortgage-delinquency rate is rising faster than the national rate and conditions aren't likely to improve in the near term, says the Phoenix report written by Rebecca Seweryn, a senior economist with Moody's in West Chester, Pa.

To show how far the economic malaise has spread, she says that consumer-driven industries such as retail, leisure and hospitality are shedding jobs and remain under strain, despite a temporary boost from the Feb. 3 Super Bowl.

The housing industry in particular will be a drag on the local economy, Seweryn says in her report. "As (Phoenix) had one of the largest booms in the housing markets in recent years, it is in the midst of one of the biggest corrections."

Housing-related employment is falling fast, and because it makes up more than 15 percent of employment in the Phoenix area, the impact on the economy is extreme.
Nationwide, an average of about 10 percent of jobs are related to housing.

"Phoenix was pretty flat (in job growth) during 2007 and has been contracting a little bit since the third quarter," she said in an interview.

"Tucson is worse than Phoenix. If you look at Tucson, you definitely see that employment kind of topped out in the first quarter of 2007 and has been declining since. Its (decline) is much stronger than what you see in other areas."

She also said that Yuma's economy remained "decent" and that conditions are improving in Prescott and Flagstaff.

"Flagstaff was a lot weaker. It entered the recession a lot earlier than the metro areas, but it's picking up a little bit lately," Seweryn
 
Glad I sold my Tucson property in January 2007. Not by any genius plan on my part. Just some fool wanted it more than common sense would dictate, so I traded him my land for his money. :cool:

Good trade for me. ;)
 
Back
Top