Springfield maintains GDP volumes

Although the Springfield metropolitan statistical area followed the nationwide downward trend in gross domestic product, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the local drop was nowhere near the nation’s average decline of 2.4 percent.

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 down .07 percent to $14.19 million, compared to 2008, according to statistics released Feb. 23.

It was the second consecutive year national and metropolitan GDPs declined.

GDP by metropolitan area is the substate counterpart of the nation’s GDP, the bureau’s most comprehensive measure of U.S. economic activity. GDP by metropolitan area 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.

The economic decline was widespread as real GDP dwindled 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 1980s,” Mullins said. “It’s pretty anemic, but it’s better than nothing.”

Despite the latest slight drop, the city’s GDP has increased steadily during the last decade, from $10.4 million in 2001 to the current figure.

In the Plains Region, which includes Springfield and Missouri, the drop was 2 percent in 2009.

“I would imagine it’s really part and parcel of the nationwide decline,” said Thomas Dail, a spokesman at the Bureau of Economic Analysis. “In fact, a relatively large portion of the economic activity in the entire nation occurs in these MSAs.”

Individual industry categories that posted drops in GDP in the Springfield MSA were retail, industry, private industry, manufacturing, information, and private goods-producing industries.

Private goods-producing industries suffered the largest drop, 13.6 percent, to $1.9 million in 2009 from $2.2 million in 2008.

Going back to 2008, the most recent figures available for individual industry categories, the Springfield MSA posted gains in truck, air and rail transportation, financial activities and private service providers.

Truck transportation led GDP figures in each of the three transportation categories, increasing 1.2 percent to $516 million in 2008 from $510 million in 2007, according to.

Rail transportation increased to $135 million in 2008 from $118 million in 2007, and air transportation landed at $17 million in 2008 up from $15 million in 2007. Both were the most recent figures available.

Natural resources and mining was a strong positive contributor in 2009. Significant growth in mining resulted from sharp declines in prices for petroleum, natural gas and other mining products.

Growth accelerated in 70 metropolitan areas, most notably in areas where natural resources and mining industries are concentrated. At 22.4 percent, Casper, Wyo., recorded the fastest real GDP growth of any metropolitan area in 2009 because of the mining sector.

“There was significant growth in mining; natural resources and mining were strong positive contributors to growth in 2009,” Dail said. “In addition to natural resources and mining, several metropolitan areas with large concentrations of nondurable goods manufacturing grew significantly in 2009.”[[In-content Ad]]