Economic Interdependence Updated

Here is a 2009 update of HREDA's 2005 Economic Interpendence Report with an Executive Summary by Dr. James V. Koch, Board of Visitors Professor of Economics and President Emeritus at Old Dominion University.

Economic Assessment of Impact of Jobs in Hampton Roads (2009)

View this presentation in a new browser window; click on "Full" to view full screen; click on "Download" to download the presentation to your own computer.

Highlights: Dr. Koch's major conclusions of those previous studies (2002, 2005) have not changed significantly. The cities and counties of Hampton Roads continue to exhibit a very high level of economic interdependence (see Table 2). Economically, they continue to function as a single, large city in which some portions of the region predictably specialize as residential locations, while others specialize as job and work locations.

Individuals frequently reside in one city, but work in another. Williamsburg continues to be the most interdependent jurisdiction within the region, economically speaking. Only 16% of those who hold jobs in Williamsburg also reside there and 82%, of the personal income generated within the City of Williamsburg is earned by individuals who live in another city or county.

Norfolk hosts the second most jobs (143,072) of any city or county in Hampton Roads. Only 40% of those working in Norfolk also reside there.

More than 1.6 million people live in Hampton Roads, and these individuals held 728,893 jobs in October 2008.

On average, only 46% of the compensation generated by HREDA-attracted jobs is captured by the host city. The other 54% diffuses among the other cities and counties in the region plus sites outside of the region. This underlines the substantial economic interdependence that exists in Hampton Roads.

Jobs that appear in one location benefit nearly all other locations. Why? Because the region’s citizens cross city and county lines continuously in terms of where they choose to live, work, and spend their incomes. The entire region benefits, regardless of the location of a new job. What’s good for Hampton turns out to be good for Newport News, Virginia Beach and nearly every other city or county in the region. Note that the same rationale applies to capital construction expenditures.

Economic Interdependence Table (Jan09)

View more presentations from Hamptonroads Partnership.

Example Explanation for Table Two: For every $1.00 earned in Williamsburg, only $0.18 is spent in Williamsburg. The majority is spent in James City County at $0.34, Newport News at $0.16 and York County at $0.14.