Austin Prosperity Slipping?
08.13.2010
Slide 4 worries me. In 1999, at the apex of the go-go technology days, per capita income in the Austin region peaked at 110.4 percent of U.S. per capita income. By 2009, we had fallen to less than 91 percent, which we haven’t seen since 1989. Yes, cost of living in Austin is relatively low compared to other leading metro areas, such as Seattle, San Jose, or Washington, DC. And, no, this is not a dig at economic development efforts in the region. The Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos economy has performed admirably during the recession and the environment for entrepreneurship here is as strong as ever.
But at some point we will have to recognize that economic development, as measured by new jobs and growth in GDP at least, may not be filtering down to workers in the form of higher wages and incomes. Growth statistics ring hollow for people who don’t see any improvements in living standards. Figuring this out is our next challenge.
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About Civic Analytics LLC
Civic Analytics LLC is an Austin-based economic research and consulting firm. Brian Kelsey, Principal, blogs here about big data, economic development, and the Austin economy. Views here are his own. Photo credit: Austin Business Journal
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Brian Kelsey has revealed a massive fault line in the myth of Austin as the shining example of a city that works. Stagnant and declining wages coupled with relentless tax/rate increases from every jurisdiction/utility are crushing the poor and middle class.
Every dollar that disappears in the squeeze between lower pay and higher taxes/fees is no longer available for job and wealth creation which feeds on itself. There must be some economic term for this: inelastic death spiral?