We’re on a new list: Where to live in hard times

— A place where you can ride the waves year-round, it turns out, also is a good place to ride out a recession.

BusinessWeek.com includes Corpus Christi among its top U.S. cities in which to ride out a recession. The list of 20 communities was compiled using job data by PolicyMap.com, a demographics and data site run by Philadelphia’s Reinvestment Fund, and the U.S. Census Bureau.

A weak economy affects all sectors of industry, but the list is meant to highlight places buffered by relatively strong industries.

Topping the list is Arlington, Va., where thousands are employed in government jobs, keeping lobbyists, lawyers and accountants busy pumping money into the economy. Although Corpus Christi ranked 20th on the list, being on the list of strongest economies in the country is great news, said Roland Mower, president and CEO of the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corp.

“It’s the beauty of a diversified economy,” Mower said. “If you look at our overall strength, you’ll see that when one sector goes down, there are four or five that could be riding high.”

Among the sectors faring well are agriculture, technical jobs, education, health care and government jobs. Government jobs as well as those in health care are needed, whether times are good or bad, stated the BusinessWeek.com article, published Tuesday.

Corpus Christi has 177,900 people employed in non-agriculture jobs, with the top sectors being trade and transportation, and government and education and health services, according to statistics compiled by the Texas Workforce Commission for August.

[READ MORE]

Click Here to read the full article.
This article by Fanny S Chirinos appeared on the Caller Times on Friday October, 17 2008.