Backwardness Has a Price - Hampton Roads Won't Regain Lost Jobs Until 2015

I've argued many times that one of Hampton Roads's biggest problems is it's image - as described in a Brookings Institute report - as "old, slow and not too bright. Behind this image is an undercurrent of intolerance and backwardness which is found within many municipal governments and certainly the leadership of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce which all but laughed at the concept of HRBOR, the gay and gay friendly chamber of commerce I helped found. A new report described in the Virginian Pilot indicates that it will be 2015 or beyond before the region regains the jobs lost during the ongoing Great Recession. This continued closed mindedness and deliberately chosen backwardness - here in Hampton Roads and in state wide offices in Richmond - obviously will not help attract new progressive employers. Here are some story highlights:
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After losing almost 48,000 jobs during the economic downturn, employment in Hampton Roads won't return to its pre-recession peak until 2015, a consulting and forecasting firm said.
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"Most metropolitan areas will suffer persistently high unemployment beyond 2011, and, for many, into the middle and latter part of the decade," consulting firm IHS Global Insight said in a report compiled for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. In Hampton Roads, the pace of job creation will be slower than in more than half of the nation's 363 metro areas, the report said.
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The prospect of subdued job growth comes in the wake of anemic gains in Hampton Roads during the past decade. Employment in the region expanded by only 3,500 jobs, or one-half percent, since 2001, according to the report. Employment in the region peaked in the third quarter of 2007, the report found. Prolonged weakness in the job market is worrisome, IHS said, because large numbers of individuals entering the labor force aren't gaining the job skills and work experience needed for career advancement.
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Much of the report called attention to the economic activity generated by the nation's metro areas. Last year, they accounted for almost 86 percent of U.S. jobs and almost 90 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, IHS said.