ICIC Releases Latest Report Analyzing COVID-19 Recession and Recovery in the Nation's 100 Largest Metropolitan Areas

BOSTON, June 16, 2022 /3BL Media/ - Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) today published the fourth report in its series analyzing How the Coronavirus Recession and Recovery Have Affected Businesses and Jobs in the 100 Largest Metropolitan Areas.

The report summarizes the key findings of ICIC’s analysis of the most detailed and comprehensive information about what has happened to businesses and jobs in these metros from the onset of the pandemic in the second quarter of 2020 through the first quarter of 2022.

The report also provides insight into the state of businesses most affected by the pandemic, which includes businesses owned by people of color. When compared to the last quarter of 2021, Black-owned businesses gained the most jobs (5.7% job growth) during the first quarter of 2022, with businesses owned by people of all large racial/ethnic groups gaining jobs during the first quarter of 2022. White-owned businesses gained 1.9%, followed by Hispanic- or Latino-owned (1.2%) and Asian- and PacificIslander-owned businesses (0.8%).

Among key industries, the construction industry had the fastest job growth in the 100 largest metro areas during the first quarter of2022 (2.6%), followed by accommodation and food services (1.4%) and manufacturing (1.1%). Healthcare employment suffered most (-1.4%), followed by entertainment (-0.8%) and retail (-0.6%).

“The widespread job gains, especially at Black-owned businesses and in the construction industry, are welcome news and supports the ongoing need for this kind of research – to highlight the strengths as well as the challenges of under-resourced communities,” said ICIC CEO Steve Grossman. “But job losses at the very smallest businesses and the overall loss of businesses, probably due to the COVID-19 surge in January, show that we still have far to go before the economy fully recovers from COVID. Although across-the-board aid to small businesses is no longer offered, well-targeted assistance to business owners and entrepreneurs who are still suffering from the economic impact of the pandemic is crucial.”

ICIC’s research tracks changes in the numbers of businesses and jobs for each of the 100 metropolitan areas and provides more specific detail on small, medium-sized, and large businesses; Asian- and Pacific Islander-, Black-, and Hispanic- or Latino-owned businesses; under-resourced communities (heavily populated urban and suburban areas of concentrated poverty and low income) and non-under-resourced communities, and major industries.

The report is accompanied by an online data dashboard that can be used to search for customized information on what has happened to jobs or businesses in a specific business category or demographic group for each of the top 100 metros. For each quarter in this four-report series, one of the top 100 metros has been selected for deeper evaluation using data available from the dashboard.

The fourth report in this series focuses on the Salt Lake City metro area which, with a job gain of 3.8% in the first quarter of 2022, had the second-highest job growth rate among the 100 largest metro areas in that quarter. Salt Lake City also was among the top 25 of those metro areas for percentage job gains in its under-resourced communities and its Black-owned and Hispanic- or Latino-owned businesses.

Salt Lake City’s job gains in the first quarter were fastest in healthcare, a key target of local economic development efforts, and in the region’s largest businesses. Healthcare employment skyrocketed from 97% of its pre-pandemic level in the last quarter of 2021 to 106% in the first quarter of this year. Employment in businesses with 100 or more employees rose from 96% of its pre-crisis employment level in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 103% in the first quarter of 2022. At the same time, businesses with one to four employees continued to lose jobs; in the first quarter of this year, their employment was at just 74% of its pre-pandemic level.

Among the report’s key findings:

• In the top 100 metro areas as a whole, the number of jobs rose modestly but the number of businesses fell between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022. By the first quarter of 2022, the number of jobs was at 92% of its pre-crisis level and the number of businesses was at 82%.
• In the first quarter of this year, all of the top 100 metro areas still had fewer jobs than at the start of the pandemic. Baton Rouge, LA, had the strongest employment recovery since the pandemic began, with first-quarter 2022 employment at 98% of its second-quarter 2020 level. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL, had the weakest recovery; in the first quarter of this year, it had only 86% of the jobs it had in the second quarter of 2020.
• The smallest companies (those with one to four employees) continued to lose jobs while the largest businesses gained jobs. In the first quarter of 2022, businesses with one to four employees had just 73% of the jobs they had at the start of thepandemic, while those with 100 or more employees had 99%.

“The reports and dashboard are useful tools for policymakers, elected officials, small business assistance providers, community and economic development professionals, community foundations, researchers, and others who want to know how the recession and recovery have affected businesses and jobs in their metropolitan areas and how they can best target assistance to the businesses and locations that need it most,” said Howard Wial, Senior Vice President and Director of Research for ICIC and co-author of the report.

To download the full report, How the Coronavirus Recession and Recovery Have Affected Businesses and Jobs in the 100 Largest Metropolitan Areas, and access the accompanying data dashboard, visit: https://icic.org/latest-research/.

This work was funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The contents of the report are solely the responsibility of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City.

The Business Dynamics Research Consortium: a project of the University of Wisconsin System, Institute for Business and Entrepreneurship, provided the Your-economy Time Series (YTS) data used for this report.

For more information or to speak with an ICIC subject matter expert, please contact André Ledgister at aledgister@icic.org or (617) 238-3012

About Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC)

Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) was founded by renowned Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter in 1994 as a research and strategy organization that today is widely recognized as the preeminent authority on the economies of under-resourced communities. ICIC drives inclusive economic prosperity in under-resourced communities through innovative research and programs to create jobs, income, and wealth for local residents. Learn more at www.icic.org or @icicorg.

###