The Memphis economy grew by roughly 8 percent from 2020 to 2021, bouncing back from a Covid deficit, and a new jobs report set a regional record.
The Federal Reserve’s new regional gross domestic product (GDP) data show snapshots of the Memphis-area economy in three scenarios: a “normal” economy in 2019, the Covid contraction of 2020, and last year’s bounce back. Memphis’ economy grew a bit more than 1 percent in 2019, in what the Fed deemed “normal.” It fell more than three points to -2.5 percent in 2020. It then rose to 5.9 percent in 2021. These figures include areas of northern Mississippi and western Arkansas.
The Fed said nearly 95 percent of metros experienced economic growth last year. The median growth was 5.1 percent.
The Nashville MSA (including Murfreesboro and Franklin) led the state in growth at a rate of more than 12 percent. Knoxville came next at more than 8 percent and Chattanooga was third with a growth rate of about 7 percent. However, the Fed warned against comparisons.
”Regardless of the year, it’s clear that there are large differences in economic conditions among MSAs,” the Federal Reserve said in a post on its website. “These differences can stem from variation in industry composition, among other factors. And this variation across the country is important to keep in mind when looking at national averages of economic data.”
Growth in the Memphis economy is showing in its employment numbers. The Greater Memphis Chamber said the area added 2,700 jobs in November, setting a regional record of 671,5000 jobs here. This puts the Chamber on pace to hit its goal of adding 50,000 in Memphis by the end of 2030.
“Greater Memphis has more people on payroll than ever before and our businesses are still telling us they can’t hire people fast enough,” said Chamber president and CEO Ted Townsend. “These historic job numbers tell me we’ve come a long way but have more work to do, especially when it comes to making job training better, faster, and more accessible to every single person in Memphis.”
The hospitality and leisure industry led the region’s job growth in November, ending the month with a total of 66,855 jobs, a 7.9 percent increase compared to November 2021. The financial activities industry followed with a bump of 7.8 percent bump in jobs and the business services industry came in third with an increase of 6.47 percent. The Chamber said the long-stagnant education and health industry saw a 4 percent increase in jobs year over year.
Meanwhile, after a year of steady growth, the construction industry saw an expected contraction as temperatures cooled in November, resulting in about 1 percent fewer jobs in the industry than in October.
The MSA ended November with 13,600 more jobs (about 2 percent) than it had pre-pandemic in February 2020.
“Greater Memphis is feeling many of the same economic pressures other cities are facing, but our resilient job growth shows the strength of our local economy,” said Tecora Murray, executive director of the Chamber’s data and analytics arm, the Center for Economic Competitiveness. “It’s encouraging that two of our essential sectors — hospitality and leisure, and education and health — are again adding jobs in the Memphis MSA, and we expect that trend to continue into 2023.”
The Chamber announced its goal of adding 50,000 jobs in June as part of its Prosper Memphis 2030 strategic growth plan. Half of those jobs should go to minorities, according to the plan. Memphis should also have diverse industries and the plan wants to add 700 new firms in advanced industries. The plan also wants to see 20,000 STEM graduates every year with 45 percent of those degrees going to Black students.