5. Fresno; CA
> Change In Government Employment From Peak: 8% (95/100)
> Estimated Government Jobs Lost: 4,000
> Change In Overall Employment From Peak: 12% (93/100)
> April 09-10 Job Growth: -3.01 % (179/200)
> Unemployment: 17%
> Population: 930,450
> Credit Rating: Aa3
Officials in Fresno Unified School District recently said earlier this month that they would lay off 124 teachers instead of the original 257. It’s a rare bit of good news for this battered California community, where layoffs of government workers are common. Fresno has cut 556 jobs in the last year. It has been hit especially hard by the meltdown in the real estate market. The region fell to 124th out of 2000 in the 2010 Milken rankings, down from 115 from a year earlier. The PR challenges are many for the region. Here’s how NPR described the area in 2008: ” For some people in California’s central valley, life resembles scenes from The Grapes of Wrath.”
4. New Haven-Milford; CT
> Change in Government Employment From Peak: 8.2% (96/100)
> Estimated Government Jobs Lost: 1,500
> Change in Overall Employment From Peak: 7.7% (61/100)
> April 09-10 Job Growth: 1.84 % (117/200)
> Unemployment: 9.3%
> Population: 862,477
> Credit rating: A1 (New Haven)
The good news for residents of New Haven, Conn. is that the city’s $475.4 million 2011-2012 budget approved in May contains no new tax increases and did not include an unpopular plan to lease the city’s parking meters to an outside company. The bad news for city workers is that means they are getting squeezed. In fact, $8 million in labor concessions are included in the figures. “Citing out-of-control pension and health care costs, to the tune of $105 million next year, Mayor John DeStefano Jr. is aggressively pushing for savings in those two areas during labor negotiations,” according to The New Haven Register. Earlier this year, 16 police officers were laid off. High school students protested planned teacher layoffs at City Hall earlier this year. The region fell 65 places to 153rd place in the 2010 Milken Institute survey. It was one of the 20 weakest-performing metro areas in the Brookings Institute’s MetroMonitor rating.
3. Stockton; CA
> Change In Government Employment From Peak: 10%
> Estimated Government Jobs Lost: 3,500
> Change In Overall Employment From Peak: 12%
> April 09-10 Job Growth: -2.4% (156/200)
> Unemployment: 17.3%
> Population: 685,306
> Credit rating: A1
Stockton, a California town of about 300,000 in central California, has become synonymous with the economic downturn because of its high foreclosure and unemployment rates. Last year, the local school district laid off 100 workers. In March city officials announced that Stockton’s projected deficit had mushroomed to $34 million and that the Police Department had been asked to prepare for 100 layoffs. More misery may be coming.
“The projection assumes no change to current labor agreements and that legal challenges against the city will succeed,” according to The Record newspaper. “Those challenges include lawsuits filed against the city by the police and firefighters unions, challenging the imposition of cuts that include the closure of a Fire Department truck company and the cancellation of scheduled pay raises.”
Budget discussions are ongoing. The region dropped 20 places on the 2010 Milken list to 186 out of 200 and one of the 20 weakest-performing metro areas on Brookings’ MetroMonitor.
2. Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI
> Change in Government Employment From Peak: 16.2%
> Estimated Government Jobs Lost: 30,000
> Change In Overall Employment From Peak: 17.9%
> April 09-10 Job Growth: -3.59 % (192/200)
> Unemployment: 11.1%
> Population: 4,296,250
> Credit rating: Ba3 (Detroit)
Perhaps no city illustrates this phenomenon more than Detroit. According to Mayor Dave Bing’s February State of The City Address, nearly 1 in 5 Detroiters were out of work and looking for a job. Bing, a former NBA star, has ambitious plans to revitalize the motor city including demolishing 10,000 dangerous buildings. He has reason to be optimistic, given the rebound in the U.S. auto industry that boosted Michigan’s economy by 2.9% last year. Nonetheless, its dire financial state has forced it to make drastic cuts to services. In fact, Bing and the Detroit City Council are in the midst political battle over the budget . Bing vetoed City Council’s budget plan last month, saying it would result in the layoff of 200 police officers and firefighters, jeopardizing public safety. Council members, who trimmed $50 million from Bing’s spending plan, deny that this is true and recently overrode his veto for a second straight year. Detroit’s recovery also is hampered by its poor credit ratings. Detroit lost its investment grade status at Moody’s Investors Service in 2008
1. New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner; LA
> Change in Government Employment from Peak: 21.3 % (100/100)
> Estimated Government Jobs Lost: 13,000
> Change in Total Employment From Peak: 15.5% (98/100)
> April 09-10 Job Growth: .02% (22/100)
> Unemployment: 7.2%
> Population: 1,167,764
> Credit rating: A3 (New Orleans)
New Orleans tops our list for obvious reasons. The Crescent City was devastated by Hurricane Katrina and the economic slowdown that followed. Sadly, the city was a haven for corruption and ineptitude for years.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu has vowed to clean up the city’s fiscal mess by, among other things, taking a 10% pay cut along with his top staff. Last year, he ordered city workers to take 11 days off work without pay to help plug a $67 million budget gap. In April, the Mayor, whose ambitious goals include getting rid of 10,000 blighted properties, minced no words about the challenges that lie ahead in his State of The City Address.
“… The hangover from past budget practices still lingers. The city’s employee health plan racked up millions more in claims than had been projected last year,” he said. “ These costs will have to come out of this year’s budget. So yet again, we will ask every department in City government to get more efficient, to downsize, and to reduce costs.”
The region’s rating fell to 123rd place on the 2010 Milken Institute rating. Experts argue that the economy may be improving but it had nowhere to go but up.
–Jonathan Berr
