The Economy of Leesville Louisiana - Case Study Example

Running Head: Economy of Leesville, Louisiana Economy of Leesville, Louisiana s Economy of Leesville, Louisiana Introduction Leesville is a small city of Louisiana USA, with population of 5,957 people. It is the seat of the Vernon Perish County. Leesville is called as “No Man’s land” of Louisiana. It possesses great importance for the country because it is the home for the JRTC Joint Readiness Training Centre that provides training to the soldiers stationed at Folk Pork and also to the other soldiers coming from all over the United States (Official Site of Leesville). The economic progression of the city is strongly influenced by the presence of the military and it is observed that there are certain benefits received by Leesville due to the arrival of the soldiers here. The following paper aims to discuss the economy of Leesville. The paper highlights the major economic indicators like per capita income, median household income, unemployment rate, major industries and their shares, cost of living index and other factors that play a defining role in determining the economic situation of Leesville Louisiana LA. Economy of Leesville The city possesses considerable importance for the country from the standpoint that it is the base for the training for the military troops. However, unfortunately the city does not witness smooth pace of economic development. The comparison of major economic indicators of Leesville with that of other cities of US shows that the city lags behind the peer cities with respect to the cost of living index, average salaries and job growth rate. However, there is a positive sign that the unemployment rate of the city is also below the average unemployment rate of United Stated and the job growth rate is also expected to grow in coming years. The basic economic statistics and facts about Leesville show that the income per capita is $17,174 including the adults and children whereas the median household income is $29,452. The comparison of recent cost of the living of USA and Leesville shows that the US’ average cost of living in 25.82 percent higher than that of Leesville. However, the unemployment rate of the city is 5.2 percent whereas the average unemployment rate of USA is 8.5 percent. Despite this fact, the job growth rate has been recorded negative in the city. According to the estimates, it is found that the job growth has been reduced by 1.2 percent in the city during the last few years. At the same time, it is also estimated that in coming years the job growth rate will increase by 3.2 percent (U.S. Census Bureau). The average household median income of the city was $23,864 in 2000 that increased to $29,456 in 2007. The average cost of living index of city is almost 25 percent below the average cost of living in United States. The average US cost of living index in 100 whereas in Leesville it was 80.6 in 2008. The unemployment rate of the city is below the average unemployment of United States as it is 5.2 percent in Leesville as compared with 8.5 percent in United States. The major economic statistics for the city are shown in the following table Population of Leesville Total population 6,753 Male 48.99% Female 51.01% Median age 33.7     Average Income Median for all male full-time $27,267 Median for all female full-time $21,661     Household Income Less than $10,000 22% $10,000 to $14,999 11% $15,000 to $24,999 19% $25,000 to $34,999 15% $35,000 to $49,999 14% $50,000 to $74,999 11% $75,000 to $99,999 6% $100,000 to $149,999 1% $150,000 to $199,999 0% $200,000 or more 1%   (Source: U.S. Census Bureau) Occupation and Salaries The city has diverse population that remain involve in different types of occupations. However, the sales and office occupation jobs are among the most common and preferred occupations for the people of Leesville. The records show that 24 percent of the total working people of the city are employed in different jobs related with management and related professions whereas 22 percent of the people are associated with the service occupation. Most common jobs adopted by the people of Leesville include the therapist jobs, managerial jobs, healthcare services etc. 53 percent of the people of Leesville are being employed by different private companies operating in the city, and nearly 30 percent are associated with the government sector whereas 6 percent of the people of the city are self employed. The telecommunication, manufacturing and catering services hire most of the population of the city. The statistics maintained by the government show that the average job salaries for the people in Leesville in $24,464. It is also recorded that the average median household of the city is $23,864. (U.S. Census Bureau) Major Industries There are different sectors successfully operating in the city and as a result several industries are progressing significantly. The educational, healthcare and social service sector contributes the major share in the industrial development of the city and almost 23 percent of the economic activities are being conducted in this sector. The retail trade sector also plays important role in the city as 15 percent of the industrial share is possessed by this sector whereas the arts, food and accommodation accounts for 15 percent. The agriculture sector has no important role to play in the city because most of the inhabitants of the city are not interested in getting education and hired by different companies. As a result, there are very few family owned dairies in Leesville and people are not willing to work as dairyman anymore. (U.S. Census Bureau) Leesville and Global Financial crisis The global financial crisis 2008 badly affected the economic situations all over the country and most of the areas of US faced negative impacts of the financial crisis. However, surprisingly and fortunately Leesville didn’t received the intense impacts of the financial crisis as other cities of US did. This is mainly due to the occupational patterns of the residents of Leesville. Most of the people living in the city are attached with military and many of the people use to work at the Fort Polk. These are the occupations that received least impacts from the global crisis and as a result the economy of the city witnessed little fluctuation resulting from the recent global financial crisis. As most of the people are associated with military jobs, the overseas deployment of soldiers can affect the economy of the country more strongly than anything else (Walker, 2009). The financial crisis deteriorated the economies all over the world and across America mainly due the interdependency of the economies upon the real estate, banking and other financial sectors. Leesville’s population mainly remains engaged in other occupations and mainly due to this reason they remain at the safe side and didn’t receive intense aftermaths of the global financial crisis. The presence of military in the country became a major reason behind the economic stability of the city during the time of economic destabilization and made it a recession proof area because all the business activities were carried out in different sectors in usual manner. The only problem the businessmen and individual faced during the crisis was the unwillingness of banks to provide loans but even that is solved when people from the other areas reach Leesville to do their businesses and bring money with them to invest in different projects in the city. Most of these investors include the retired people that come from different parts of their country to spend their time and money here (Walker, 2009). The deployment of the soldiers plays major role in determining the economic conditions of the city because when the soldiers came to the area they use to spend money to get their living necessities and as a result, the city gets the business. The return of the soldiers in big number to their homes prevents the property prices to fall down even during the crisis time. For example, during May, 2009 there were almost 3,500 soldiers came back to Leesville from Iraq and their arrival supported the economy by bringing money. The demand of the property is expected to increase in the city because more troops will be returning in the coming days. (Walker, 2009) The construction work of the new buildings in however affected from the crisis and it is observed that the major construction companies operating in Leesville have cut down their number of employees and they have also reduced the working hours of the labour due to reduced work. This thing has badly affected the labour in Leesville. But overall it can be said that the economy of Leesville is moving towards its own direction taking little effects from the recent global financial crisis. The above discussion describes the economy of Leesville in term of different economic indicators and also discussed the reaction of the economy of the city towards the global recession. It is found that the city is facing weak economic conditions because many of the economic indicators clearly show the poor progress of the city as compared with the other cities of the country. It is also found that the city reacts in unique manner towards the global crisis and took little negative impacts of the crisis. References Brett Walker (2009). Vernon business owners optimistic about economy. Leesville daily leader, Tue Feb 10, 2009. Online at: http://www.leesvilledailyleader.com/news/x2127770369/Vernon-business-owners-optimistic-about-economy Official Site of City of Leesville (2009). Online at: http://cityofleesville.net/default.asp U.S. Census Bureau, Leesville Statistics. Online at: http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/gazette.html US city information (2009). http://www.leesvillelouisiana.com/local/cityinfo.html Read More