Hampton Roads economy contracted 0.8 percent in 2009

[Blue_Tires]

The inflation-adjusted output of Hampton Roads’ economy slipped in 2009, due partly to declines in construction, transportation and utilities, and leisure and hospitality, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said Wednesday.

However, the 0.8 percent falloff in Hampton Roads’ output was more moderate than the 2.4 percent drop in gross domestic product for the country’s metro areas taken as a group, according to the bureau.

Eighty percent of the country’s 366 largest metro areas witnessed declines in their economic output, the bureau said. These contractions, it said, were led by reduced activity in manufacturing of durable goods, construction, and professional and business services.

In its ranking of metro areas by inflation-adjusted output of goods and services for 2009, the bureau placed Hampton Roads at 97th.

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/02/hampton-roads-economy-contracted-08-percent-2009