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SA to "Lead Nation Out of Recession"

SA, Austin said two strongest metros economically in USA

A new report from the Massachusetts based IHS Global Insight management and consulting company says San Antonio and Austin will 'lead the nation out of the recession,' and will be the first two metro areas to report a full recovery and a return to pre recession levels of employment and economic activity, 1200 WOAI news reports.

IHS Global is recognized as 'the most consistently accurate forecasting company in the world.'

The report says San Antonio and Austin will be back to pre recession job levels in 2010. The recovery will then sweep across the rest f Texas, with Houston, and Dallas Ft. Worth expected to be among eight metro areas recovering by 2011.

Mario Hernandez, who heads the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, says he is already seeing signs of a recovery in jobs, with Medtronic and Transcom already announcing moves to San Antonio this year.

"Our projection was a very ambitious goal that we had for 2500 (new jobs) in San Antonio this year, but we have three months left, and we're already over 3,00," Hernandez said.

The report praised Texas' overall performance in the recession, saying six metro areas, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, Houston, McAllen, and Dallas, are among the twenty 'economically strongest' metros in the country.

Hernandez says the fact that companies continue to locate in San Antonio is the best gauge of the area's reputation as a strong economy.

"Companies don't expand when they have major doubts about an area's economic future, about what will happen," Hernandez said.

On the other end of the scale, IHS Global Insight said five Northeastern and Midwestern industrial cities will not return to pre recession levels until 2016. Those cities include Cleveland, Detroit, Hartford, Milwaukee, and Providence.

Several Florida cities ere listed as the worst performing metros in the country during the current recession, Bradenton, Cape Coral, Lakeland, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa.