The 2009 gross domestic product in the Springfield metropolitan statistical performed better than the national GDP, according to statistics released Feb. 23 by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The real U.S. GDP declined 2.4 percent in 2009, the most recent year of the survey, following a 0.4 percent decline in 2008.
In Springfield, GDP was $14.19 million, down .07 percent compared to 2008.
It was the second consecutive year national and metropolitan GDPs declined.
GDP by metropolitan area, the sub-state counterpart of the nation’s GDP, is the BEA’s most comprehensive measure of U.S. economic activity and is the sum of the GDP originating in all the industries in a metropolitan area.
Real GDP by metropolitan area is an inflation-adjusted measure of each area’s gross product based on national prices for the goods and services produced within the metropolitan area.
The economic decline was widespread as real GDP declined in 292 of 366, or 80 percent, of metropolitan statistical areas, led by national declines in durable-goods manufacturing, construction and professional and business services.
Steve Mullins, Drury University economics professor, was hesitant to look into the city’s economic future.
“He who lives by the crystal ball eats a lot of ground glass,” Mullins said. “I think we’ve hit the bottom.
“Housing is starting to pick up, even though it’s been slow.”
Mullins said he believes the economy will continue to muddle along at a growth rate of 3 percent to 4 percent.
“It’s a very slow recovery compared to the last recession in the early ’80s,” Mullins said. It’s pretty anemic, but it’s better than nothing.”
Read more coverage in the March 7 issue of Springfield Business Journal.
A new and improved Reed Academy is being constructed on the middle school’s original site to preserve a neighborhood connection that goes back a century.