The Transforming Metropolitan Economy

The twenty-first century has been marked by the decline of goods-producing sectors as providers of jobs in the US economy and by the continuous rise in importance of most service sectors. This shift toward services has touched every city, town, and hamlet in the country. Yet, the impact of this transformation on employment, earnings, and income has varied widely among places, affecting their chances for prosperity and a favorable employment environment in the years ahead.By focusing on the metropolitan area rather than only the central city, Thomas M. Stanback points out that suburbs have become more than neighborhood markets or sources of commuter labor for the central city. Rather, suburb and central city are closely and symbiotically related economically - and, to a significant degree, culturally as well. Thomas M. Stanback, in this work, analyzes the major transformations affecting 319 metropolitan areas across the US during the last three decades of the twentieth century.This comprehensive analysis documents five significant trends: the pervasiveness of the new service economy; the dominance of metropolitan economies; the growing economic specialization separating metro areas; the wide-ranging differences in employment, earnings, and income growth across metro areas; and the increasing importance of non-earned income as a source of aggregate demand. Stanback classifies US metro areas by industry and examines which economic sectors produced the fastest growth in income and employment. This concise, thorough, and clearly written volume is essential background reading for students, practitioners, and public officials concerned with national, regional, and local economic growth and economic development.