B.R. among bottom fifth on Brookings’ latest MetroMonitor

In the Brookings Institution’s latest quarterly report on the economic performance of the nation’s 100 largest metros, Baton Rouge ranks among the 20 weakest at the close of 2011. The report says Baton Rouge saw employment drop 3.5% from peak pre-recession levels in the fourth quarter of 2007. However, on a brighter note, it also says employment grew 0.6% in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to the quarter previous. And while Baton Rouge’s Gross Metropolitan Product fell by 5% from its peak level in the fourth quarter of 2005, it, too, has nonetheless risen 5.9% from its recession low in the second quarter of 2009. The Capital Region had consistently ranked among the 20 best-performing areas on the list since it began being released in 2009 to track recovery from the recession. But Baton Rouge began sliding in the fourth quarter of 2010, when Brookings moved it to the “Middle 20” category—cities ranked between No. 40 and No. 60. The MetroMonitor report does not give specific rankings, and instead lumps metros into one of five categories of 20 cities: Strongest, Second-strongest, Middle, Second-weakest and Weakest. Baton Rouge remained in the Middle 20 category throughout the first two quarters of 2011, and was further downgraded in the third quarter to the Second-weakest category—or the bottom 40. See the Brookings report statistics specific to Baton Rouge here; the complete metro rankings in the report here; and Brookings’ complete nine-page report on what the metros’ performance during the last quarter of 2011 says about the nation’s economic recovery here.