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POLICOM Study
Chronicles Six Straight Years of Improvement
SAGINAW, MI – The Saginaw, Michigan metropolitan area has made
steady economic strides in the last six years, according to a study
released by POLICOM Corporation, an independent economics research firm.
SFI President JoAnn Crary cited statistics
from the study, which has the Tri-Cities climbing into the top half
of United States metropolitan areas.
"This is very positive and quite significant, as it
is based on economic factors," said Crary. "Saginaw continues to add
jobs and further establish itself as a regional center for healthcare,
business services and advanced manufacturing. This diversification translates
into positive news for the entire area."
POLICOM's 7th annual study, which measures the "economic
strength" of the 318 metropolitan areas in the U.S., ranked Saginaw-Bay
City-Midland 147th. The Tri-City area was 215th on the list in 1995,
but has improved in the rankings every year since, making the biggest
jump from last year's study. The study evaluates 18 economic factors
over a 25-year period and ranks U.S. metropolitan areas.
POLICOM, located in Jupiter, Florida, specializes
in evaluating the condition of local economies. Its method of measuring
"economic strength" identifies how consistently the economy has grown
in size and quality over an extended period of time.
"By including multiple economic factors and considering
an extended period of time, economic trends of the areas can be determined,"
commented William H. Fruth, POLICOM's president. "This is not
a ‘quality of life' or ‘best places to live' study. Nor does it try
to identify the latest economic ‘hot spot.' The study measures the economic
soundness of an area."
"If an area changes upward in ranking from the previous
year, it means the area gained in strength relative to the other areas,
the other areas have weakened in strength, or a combination of both," Fruth continued. "Shifts of 10 places or fewer are not statistically
significant, unless the same shift has occurred repeatedly over the
years."
POLICOM conducts its annual study so it can study
the characteristics of strong and weak local economies. The 2001 list
is based upon data from 1975 through 1999. In previous year's studies, the Tri-Cities were ranked
215th in 1995, 206th in 1996, 190th in 1997, 187th in 1998, 181st in
1999, 179th in 2000, demonstrating a gradual and steady increase, prior
to this year's substantial jump in economic strength.
"It is characteristic of strong economies to have
rapid, consistent growth for an extended period of time," Fruth explained.
"Typically this is the result of having a ‘diversified' economic base.
"The weakest areas have extremely inconsistent economies
or have been in rapid decline. This is a result of being dependent on
one industry, which has faltered," Fruth said.
Economic indicators, which measure earnings, employment,
and distress are examined for both annual growth and annual stability
to determine economic strength. The elements chosen gage how the economy
has behaved over the last quarter century.
The following are the 18 economic elements used for
the study. Data for the last 10 years of the 25-year study period is
given "double" emphasis. |
