ACBJ study finds Raleigh among few markets to add jobs in 4Q

Count the Raleigh-Cary market among a small group of Metropolitan Statistical Areas that added jobs in the fourth quarter of 2008, says a study released 

The number of jobs in the Raleigh-Cary MSA, which comprises Wake, Johnston and Franklin counties, increased by 3,500 from the fourth quarter of 2007, according to a bizjournals analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statisticsdata. Bizjournals is part of American City Business Journals, the parent company of Triangle Business Journal.

Raleigh’s total of 434,100 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2008 gave the MSA a 0.8 percent gain year-over-year and a 21.6 pecent gain (77,000) jobs since 2003.

The Durham MSA was not among the 100 markets studied by bizjournals. Of those markets, only 17 posted year-over-year job increases in the fourth quarter.

Greensboro joined Raleigh in that select group. The Greensboro metro, which does not include nearby Winston-Salem, had 331,700 jobs in the fourth quarter, up 600 jobs in a year.

Charlotte, which has been hammered by the banking industry crisis, was not so fortunate. The Queen City lost 8,200 jobs over the 12-month period that ended in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Still, Charlotte’s plight pales in comparison to that of Dayton, Ohio, where the job base has been eroding for most of the decade.

DISMAL DAYS IN DAYTON

Dayton added 3,600 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2000, when compared to the same quarter in the previous year. That was its last increase. The subsequent 32 quarters have all resulted in job losses – eight years of slow but steady declines.

Dayton’s streak is by far the worst in the nation, the bizjournals study found. No other U.S. market has amassed a losing streak of more than 13 quarters, and only five markets besides Dayton have been declining for more than eight straight quarters.

The worst employment streaks are concentrated in two areas -- the industrial belt of the Midwest, where the problems bedeviling domestic automakers are now harming most businesses, and Florida, where the collapse of the real estate market has triggered an especially deep recession.

Behind Dayton on the streak list are Detroit, which has lost jobs in 13 straight quarters, and Toledo, Ohio, which has experienced 10 consecutive quarterly losses.

Then come Cleveland and two Florida markets — Daytona Beach and Palm Bay-Melbourne — with negative streaks of nine quarters.

Bizjournals averaged 10 years of monthly employment data to generate quarterly job totals for the nation’s 100 biggest markets. It then compared each quarter with the corresponding quarter a year earlier to determine whether the local job base was growing or shrinking.

Texas is the state that has resisted the recession most successfully to this point. Houston added 43,400 jobs between the fourth quarters of 2007 and 2008, the biggest upswing in the nation.

The two other markets to add at least 10,000 jobs during the past year are also in Texas: Dallas-Fort Worth (up 32,700 jobs) and San Antonio (up 11,500).

The following is a rundown of the three North Carolina metros among the nation’s 100 biggest labor markets, with the job figures for the fourth quarter of 2008 for each, followed by the length of its current quarterly streak of job losses and its one- and five-year records of job growth. To see the full list, go to this story and scroll toward the bottom of the page.

Raleigh

• Jobs (fourth quarter 2008): 434,100
• Consecutive quarterly job losses: 0
• One-year record (‘07-08): Up 3,500 jobs (0.8%)
• Five-year record (‘03-08): Up 77,000 jobs (21.6%)

Charlotte

• Jobs (fourth quarter 2008): 756,400
• Consecutive quarterly job losses: 1
• One-year record (‘07-08): Down 8,200 jobs (-1.1%)
• Five-year record (‘03-08): Up 84,500 jobs (12.6%)

Greensboro

• Jobs (fourth quarter 2008): 331,700
• Consecutive quarterly job losses: 0
• One-year record (‘07-08): Up 600 jobs (0.2%)
• Five-year record (‘03-08): Up 20,800 jobs (6.7%)