Metro GDP Slips In ’11
But Revised Figures For Prior Years Paint Brighter Picture
Posted: February 23, 2013
HARRISONBURG — The Harrisonburg area’s gross domestic product contracted in 2011, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Real GDP, chained to 2005 dollars, dropped 1.6 percent to an inflation-adjusted $5.5 billion, ranking the metropolitan statistical area 332 out of 366 metro areas in the U.S.
Harrisonburg saw drops in the sectors of natural resources and mining, construction, nondurable goods manufacturing, trade, information, financial activities, other services and government.
But the data released Friday isn’t all bad news for the metro area, which includes the city and Rockingham County.
Revised figures for 2010 show GDP grew by 8.2 percent, compared to the previously released total of 3.5 percent, putting Harrisonburg’s economic growth near the top in the U.S. for that year.
And 2009, in which the bureau previously reported a decline of 1.2 percent, actually saw growth of 2.6 percent, revised figures show.
The Harrisonburg metro area’s diverse economy, with education and health care playing major roles, has helped to shield it from the worst of the economic downtown, economists say.
Throughout the United States, GDP increased in 242 metro areas in 2011, with an average for all metros of 1.6 percent. Growth in professional and business services, durable-goods manufacturing and trade led the increases, the bureau reported.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis typically releases its study of GDP by metro area in September, but the agency delayed the release five months to speed up its study of personal income by area.
GDP figures for 2012 and later years will be released again in September, according to a news release.
Contact Jeremy Hunt at 574-6273 or jhunt@dnronline.com
Real GDP, chained to 2005 dollars, dropped 1.6 percent to an inflation-adjusted $5.5 billion, ranking the metropolitan statistical area 332 out of 366 metro areas in the U.S.
Harrisonburg saw drops in the sectors of natural resources and mining, construction, nondurable goods manufacturing, trade, information, financial activities, other services and government.
But the data released Friday isn’t all bad news for the metro area, which includes the city and Rockingham County.
Revised figures for 2010 show GDP grew by 8.2 percent, compared to the previously released total of 3.5 percent, putting Harrisonburg’s economic growth near the top in the U.S. for that year.
And 2009, in which the bureau previously reported a decline of 1.2 percent, actually saw growth of 2.6 percent, revised figures show.
The Harrisonburg metro area’s diverse economy, with education and health care playing major roles, has helped to shield it from the worst of the economic downtown, economists say.
Throughout the United States, GDP increased in 242 metro areas in 2011, with an average for all metros of 1.6 percent. Growth in professional and business services, durable-goods manufacturing and trade led the increases, the bureau reported.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis typically releases its study of GDP by metro area in September, but the agency delayed the release five months to speed up its study of personal income by area.
GDP figures for 2012 and later years will be released again in September, according to a news release.
Contact Jeremy Hunt at 574-6273 or jhunt@dnronline.com