Nashville Leads Nation in Economic Recovery, Job & Wage Growth

 

The Nashville Chamber’s recent launch of the campaign theme “Business Is Good” has recently been confirmed by four top national economic sources. Recently released data from the Brookings Institute named the Nashville metro area among the top 20 strongest economies in America in terms of overall economic recovery. For the study, Brookings examined growth, jobs and housing prices in the nation’s 100 largest metros, compared to the lowest point of the recession. Middle Tennessee’s diverse economy and high levels of entrepreneurship are two key factors that have driven this positive economic surge.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics also rank Nashville’s job growth in the top five in the nation last year. The analysis covers the 51 U.S. metros with populations of one million or more and covers the year 2010-2011, the latest period for which full data are available. The Nashville region’s strength in this area was echoed by the Gallup Job Creation Index, which ranked our metro fourth in the country in the 2011 calendar year.

Finally, Davidson County’s wage growth has recently been named among the best in the country by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Average wages in Nashville grew by 4.42 percent between 2009 and 2010, the last year for which official figures are available. Davidson County wages grew from an average of $46,595 in 2009 to $48,654 in 2010. According to the data, that growth percentage was the seventh best out of America’s 64 major counties, defined by those in which the total compensation for employees totaled at least $25 billion in 2010.

We are all so fortunate that Middle Tennessee’s economy is diverse, resilient and stacked with strong public and private leaders. Through the Partnership 2020 strategy and with that sort of leadership, 2012 should continue to be a great year for Nashville and the Middle Tennessee region. Business is good!