Area jobs on solid footing in annual index of cities

Diversified tech sector, economy's strength cited

The Huntsville area ranks 16th among America's "Best Performing Cities" for creating and sustaining jobs, according to the Milken Institute/Greenstreet Partners 2007 index released Wednesday.

"I think it is a significant recognition of our long-term economic strategy ... and strength of the economy here," said Jeff Thompson, senior business adviser in the Center for Management and Economic Research at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Thompson said he's also pleased when he looks at the specific data used to compile the index, which includes short- and long-term measurements of employment and salary growth, as well as four indicators of technology output, according to the institute. The area's diversified, burgeoning high-tech sector - including biotech and robotics as well as aerospace and computer engineering - is driving the good job performance, Thompson said.

Thompson is also former chief operating officer for the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce. He said that in the 1980s and '90s, Huntsville leaders and the business community started an effort to diversify and build the nonfederal part of the area's economic base.

So Huntsville was much better positioned to weather the high-tech "bust" and economic slowdown of the last several years than many cities, he said.

"We didn't have as far to come back as some of the areas," Thompson said. He added that it's rewarding to see the benefits from the efforts of so many people for so long.

The Huntsville metropolitan statistical area was ranked 28th in last year's index of 200 large cities.

Mobile and the Birmingham-Hoover area made it onto the index's "Biggest Gainers" list. Mobile is ranked No. 88 this year, up from 186 in the previous index, and Birmingham-Hoover is at 101, up from 153. Montgomery comes in at 76, up from 119.

On the index of smaller cities, Auburn-Opelika is ranked No. 29, up from 44; Tuscaloosa is 50, up from 77; Florence-Muscle Shoals is 85, up from 135; Dothan is 86, down from 85; Gadsden is 135, up from 171; and Decatur is 150, up from 170.