Not Even A Recession Could Stop N.O.

New Orleans, Louisiana was one of the most successful cities during the most recent Recession. Although what some economists refer to as “The Great Recession” started in late 2007 through June of 2009, one of the longest since the Great Depression, New Orleans managed to thrive.

The United States economy has always had its flaws. Our economy is built so that it will experience peaks and troughs. One of the main contributors to the recession was the Housing market in the early to mid 2000’s. The Occupy Wall Street Movement represented the people’s anguish over the whole matter. A reaction to the debt crisis by the Federal Reserve was to poor large sums of money into the economy, which never really solved the main flaws.

So with our country in such poor shape, why was New Orleans so lucky?

“One thing that has helped New Orleans do better than the rest of the country is that our housing prices never soared,” says Peter Richiutti, Professor of Economics at Tulane University. “So there wasn’t much drop back when the bust hit nationally.”

Of course, New Orleans also has suffered more than most other cities in the country. Hurricane Katrina was a catastrophic event that definitely set the city back. We still struggle to gain back the population to pre-Katrina levels. However, the abundance of help we received has lasted years, and we have grown in our recovery. All of the benefits gave us a huge boost, so much so that when the rest of the country was slowly running out of money, we were still gaining.

“Louisiana got around 33 Billion dollars in recovery money from Katrina.” said Walter Lane, Chair of Economics and Finance at The University of New Orleans. Mr. Lane continued by stating, “That kind of money will help the city function for a long time to come.”

The money put into hospitals, schools, construction, etc. have had the lion share of aid.

New Orleans reached a new level of efficiency the last few years. New laws, corporations and businesses have helped the economy to continue running at a high or at least respectable level. The shipbuilding industry, as well as the Oil and Gas industry, has remained to be key in the economy. From 2008 to today, our unemployment has been around 7 percent, very close to the goal of 5 percent that cities aim for.

New Orleans is known almost like a land of opportunity around the country. Of course, the various fun events the city hosts attract people year round. But the chance to create something fresh, to pioneer, in a place that has such a captivating comeback story keeps people coming.

When asked on what he believes to be the outward view of New Orleans to the rest of the country, Mr Richiutti said, “New Orleans has become America’s Petri dish. The city is moving in the right direction.”