Amid uneven metropolitan growth, city of Memphis sees ranks of employed dropping

Memphis Commercial Appeal ^ | 4/8/12 | Tom Bailey Jr.

[SmithL]

The latest labor stats offer better news for the Memphis area than for Memphis.

The number of people employed -- 563,640 -- in the eight-county Memphis metropolitan area is a 3.2 percent increase over February 2011 when 545,880 were working.

But among Memphis residents, the number employed fell by 7,890, or 3 percent, from 270,000 to 262,110.

Those numbers show that while local employment is on the rebound since the most recent recession, the growth is not evenly distributed across the metro area.

The disparity, a local economist said, may result from a continued migration of people and wealth from Memphis to the suburbs.

The Memphis MSA comprises Shelby, Fayette, Tipton, Crittenden, DeSoto, Tunica, Tate and Marshall counties. The labor workforce estimates are provided by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

"I think these numbers fit with the outmigration of the population," said University of Memphis economist John Gnuschke.

"Many jobs follow the population because they are retail or service. Others follow their employees, like FedEx," he said.

"The schools issue and the wedge that is being driven between the city and the suburbs is just one step toward a localized competition for jobs and economic development," Gnuschke said.

"Border wars are well known, and this may be a reduced form of the battle for economic opportunities," he said.

The latest tracking involving census and Bureau of Labor figures shows that the vast majority of suburban residents continue to count on Memphis employers for their paychecks.

Among Arlington residents who work, for example, 71.3 percent do so in Memphis. The second-ranked city of employment for Arlington residents is Bartlett, where 4.8 percent are employed.

Among Bartlett residents, 70 percent work in Memphis compared to 9 percent who work in Bartlett.

Of Collierville residents, 62.3 percent work in Memphis; 14.4 percent work in Collierville.

Among Germantown residents, 70.6 percent work in Memphis and 7 percent in Germantown.

For Lakeland residents, 70.5 percent are employed in Memphis and 7.9 percent work in Bartlett.

Last week, The Commercial Appeal reported that more people moved out of than into Shelby County from 2005 through 2009.

While the county's population grew from births, 41,641 residents moved away while 35,018 newcomers moved to the county.

Shelby County residents moved 176,000 times during the period, but 76 percent of the relocations remained within Shelby County.

Of the moves made outside the county, DeSoto received 4,206 transfers, Tipton 1,591, Fayette 1,581, Davidson 1,334 and Crittenden 1,103.

[SmithL]

Memphis is another utopian, urban, workers paradise.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

“Uneven metropolitan growth” is code for “we need more Section 8 housing because we haven’t destroyed all the neighborhoods yet.”

[YankeeReb]

But among Memphis residents, the number employed fell by 7,890, or 3 percent, from 270,000 to 262,110.

Impossible! Every outlet of the MSM is crowing about the # of jobs created last month. They're positively giddy about Soetoro's reelection, it's just about in the bag. Heck, last week I heard how high gas prices are a GOOD thing because people are rushing out to buy fuel efficient cars with all this new found wealth.

Happy Daze are Here Again.

[wardaddy]

Memphis proper is black populated and black run

Politics is only part of it.

The rings are the opposite.

My hometown 190 miles down I-55 is the same

Maybe worse actually

[vetvetdoug]

Anyone with any common sense would move away from Memphis. The Mayor and the City Council that run the city are as corrupt as Chicago's. When Dick Hackett left the city was equal with white to black...50-50. The election of Willie “Hump me for a school promotion” Harrington was the harbinger of decay. The city is now 75 black and 25 white. Progress. One takes their chances traveling into the city now days where the police no longer report the true crime statistics.

[riri]

ohhh baby. Memphis is creepy. Only spent a short time there on my trip back east from the west coast but you could immediately feel the bad vibe in the air. I would have never thought that about Memphis.

Then a few or so exits later, we hit Knoxville and that seemed just the opposite. I think I could live in Knoxville.

[dagogo redux]

OMG! Has anyone actually ever BEEN to Memphis and driven around the “neighborhoods” inside the city proper? You can call the code, talk to the family and start the funeral proceedings, because this old feller has succumbed to his cancer.

[ogen hal]

Urban wastelands are best avoided. Live somewhere surrounded by water...because “they” can’t swim.

[mjp]

The city is now 75 black and 25 white.

Back in the 50's when I was a kid, that same part of Memphis was 70% white and 30% black. And Memphis was voted the cleanest city, the quietest city, and the safest city of its size in the country.

[Gaffer]

Profile of the good Doctor: Dr. John E. Gnuschke is Director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research and the Center for Manpower Studies and Professor of Economics at The University of Memphis. The Bureau and the Center are the applied business, economic, and labor market research divisions of the Fogelman College of Business and Economics. The divisions support the research and publication efforts of faculty members and interact with other research organizations, government agencies, and the business community. The Bureau and the Center rank among the top applied research divisions in the nation with approximately $3.0 million in research contracts and approximately 80 staff members. Dr. Gnuschke also serves as the Director of the Applied Information Technology Center and is Co-Director of the Center for Real Estate Research. Dr. Gnuschke received his Ph.D. and M.A. degrees from the University of Missouri at Columbia and his B.S. from Utah State University. His areas of expertise include market assessments, survey research, impact studies, revenue and cost estimates, labor market studies, and competitor analyses. As a widely recognized leader in his profession, he serves on numerous local, state, and national committees and boards. He has served as president of AUBER (the national Association for University Business and Economic Research). He works closely with community leaders and organizations throughout the Mid-South. In addition to his academic and contract research activities, Dr. Gnuschke has over 25 years of experience as a private consultant to major business, legal, financial, and government organizations.

80 staff members and only a $3 Million dollar contracted research result? I'd bet this is just one Obama Grant to provide 'academic' backup to Obama's re-election effort.

Before I retired, I had 30 people doing research that resulted in $7+ million each year.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Gives a whole new meaning to the lyric “Walking in Memphis, with my feet ten feet off of Beale.”

[Terry Mross]

Several points: One, people move out for a reason. Two, the growth is from births. Wanna’ guess “who” is causing “who” to move and “who” is having babies?

In the town where I grew up the population never changed. Everytime some girl got pregnant, some guy left town.

[Gay State Conservative]

The CITY OF MEMPHIS sees a drop?? My God,apart from the oil sands of the Dakotas the whole damn country is seeing a drop.

[Gay State Conservative]

Urban wastelands are best avoided.

I hear ya.Last January I visited Detroit for the first time in decades.What I saw there came close to rivaling anything I've seen in Africa,Asia or South America (and I've seen a lot).

[ebshumidors]

I’m in Germantown. They don’t call Memphis ‘Mogadishu on the Mississippi’ for nothing.