Updated jobs report shows some metros strong, others still struggling.

At its second Economic Summit in December, the United States Conference of Mayors released an updated report on U.S. metro job growth showing that during the year ending in October 2004, 259 of the nation's 318 metro economies registered some job growth, while 59 experienced job declines.

The report calculated that among the metro areas with positive job growth, 125 had an employment growth rate fast enough to absorb new people into the workforce, while the remainder of the 318 metros did not. The report shows that 145 metros have not regained all the jobs lost from the last recession, and 77 of those will not regain jobs lost until 2008 or later. Furthermore, 50 metro areas will not reach pre-recession levels until 2010 or after.

During the summit, mayors and business leaders discussed how to keep the nation's housing industry strong by expanding homeownership, especially among the nation's minority populations. The group recommended preserving both the mortgage interest rate deduction and the state and local tax deduction during the upcoming tax reform debate in Congress.

They also called on Congress to finish the business of reauthorizing TEA-21, the nation's major highway transportation bill, to ensure the start of critical transportation projects in 2005. The bill stalled in the last Congress. Finally, the group called for an expanded brownfield redevelopment initiative, including passage of a brownfield redevelopment tax credit.

"U.S. metro areas are the engines that drive the national economy," said U.S. Conference of Mayors President and Akron Mayor Donald Plusquellic. "To keep metro areas globally competitive, we must continue to invest in them through a strong federal partnership and pu lic/private partnerships. Businesses know how economically powerful our cities are."

A growing number of businesses recognize that U.S. metro economies account for most of the economic growth in the country, generating 85 percent of the gross metropolitan product, employment, and income. If U.S. metro areas were nations, 47 of the world's 100 largest economies would be in the United States. The top 20 metro areas account for over one-third of the nation's total economic output.

View the entire jobs report online at www.usmayors.org.

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