National Statistics Point Out Local Job Growth

Local figures exceed U.S. average for 24 consecutive months
By Ben Sheroan, The News Enterprise (reprinted with permission)
Monday, February 6, 2017
http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/national-statistics-point-out-local-job-growth
Industrial announcements often grab headlines but a new employment report reveals quieter, steady job creation locally at a rate more than double the national norm in 2016.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicate 1,300 new jobs were created in 2016 across the three-county Elizabethtown-Fort Knox Metropolitan Statistical Area. That’s a growth rate of 2.3 percent compared to 1 percent nationally, according to the Metro Performance Report compilation by SYNEVA Economics.
Judge-Executive Har­ry Berry was encouraged by the report calling it “a validation of the incremental increases in employment.”
Total employment in the MSA, which encompasses Hardin, LaRue and Meade counties, was 57,900 at year’s end, the report said.
Rick Games of the Elizabethtown Industrial Foundation said current employment in the industrial park “is well above pre-recession totals” recorded in 2008.
Games cited several local hiring initiatives including Metalsa, Ake­bono and Fischbach USA plus the establishment and immediate expansion of Hendrickson USA manufacturing plant as factors influencing job development. He said at least a half-dozen plants are hiring now.
Job growth also is reflected locally in retail, hospitality, health care and other employment sectors, he said.
Another key factor locally is Fort Knox. While down from its peak following Base Realignment and Closure changes, the post employment and payroll exceeds pre-BRAC figures, Berry said, and the full impact of the 1st Theater Sustainment Command’s relocation from North Carolina still is to come.
“I think sometimes we tend to focus on the bad news when we have job losses and don’t notice the ones we gain at the same time,” Berry said.
Local quality of life, education and transportation all positively impact job growth, Games said. He praised downtown redevelopment efforts, local retail openings and responsive educational efforts highlighted by Elizabethtown Community and Tech­nical College and Hardin County Schools’ Early College and Career Center.
“We, as a community, should be proud of that,” Games said. “The community is the team. This doesn’t happen every place. Our partners are beyond belief.”
Local growth steadily has been above national norms. The report shows the local rate exceeded the national average for metropolitan areas for 24 consecutive months.
Of 387 MSAs across the country, the Eliza­bethtown-Fort Knox area ranked 69th at the end of 2016. An employment surge in March placed the local area at 10th overall and July’s performance ranked 16th, the study shows.
Seasonal factors can influence monthly rates but Berry focused on the calculation for all of 2016 that places the local MSA above nearly 90 percent of the nation.
“We’re right near the top 10 percent measured across the entire year,” he wrote in an email. “Pretty impressive.”
 
2016 METRO GROWTH
Comparison of Kentucky metropolitan statistical areas based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment figures.
 

		GROWTH RATE		NEW JOBS
E’town-Fort Knox		2.3 percent		1,300
Cincinnati OH-KY-IN		2.0 percent		21,700
Louisville KY-IN		1.8 percent		1,600
Clarksville TN-KY		1.8 percent		12,100
Bowling Green		1.4 percent		1,000
Lexington		0.6 percent		1,700
Owensboro		0.4 percent		200
Huntington WV-KY-OH		-0.1 percent		-100
Evansville IN-KY		-1.4 percent		-2,200

 
Source: SYNEVA Economics
Ben Sheroan can be reached at 270-505-1764 or bsheroan@thenewsenterprise.com.