Katowice is among eight metropolitan areas listed as topping commodities growth among 200 global cities surveyed by the Brookings Institution in its newest report.
The Brookings Institution, recognized as the world’s number one think tank, revealed the newest edition of its report on the 200 largest metropolitan economies in the world – Global MetroMonitor 2011. Katowice as one of two Polish cities (Warsaw is the second) was taken into consideration in the top two hundred.
This is the second edition of the Global MetroMonitor. It increases to 200 the number of studied metro areas, up from 150 in the inaugural report. It focuses on the economic performance of metropolitan areas using a standardized score composed of two indicators: the annualized growth rate of real income (calculated as gross domestic product divided by population) and the annualized growth rate of employment.
The 2010-2011 percentage change shows that the Katowice metro area posted 3,5 percent growth rate for income (same as Singapore) and 0,4 percent for employment (same as London). The income was much more above the all 200 metros’ average, however the employment rate was below the average growth for country and industry. The same situation was, among others, in Bangkok, Hamburg and Vienna. Consequently, Katowice was ranked 85th in terms of economic performance. For example, Berlin was 84th, Lyon 86th.
The most important economic driver of the Katowice metro area was manufacturing in the 2010 to 2011 period (24,1% of all categorized industries). The second important industry was business and finance (17,1%). The strongest year on year industry growth driver was represented by commodities (8,5%) – the category includes mining, quarrying, oil and gas extraction, agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting. The report does not explain which of these concern commodities in the Katowice metro, however we can suppose it was the mining. Another seven metro economies with similar industrial specializations, which were growing in the subjected period, are Calgary (ranked 51st), Edmonton (60), Houston (19), Izmir (4), Oklahoma City (82) and Tulsa (73). “Metro areas specializing in commodities as well as business and financial services within their countries exhibited the strongest performance. By contrast, metro areas with high concentrations of local/non-market services (education, health care, administrative services, government) or construction registered only sluggish growth last year” – was stated in the report.
The 200 world’s largest metropolitan economies account for nearly one-half (48 percent) of global output but contain only 14 percent of world population and employment. Ninety percent of the fastest-growing metropolitan economies among the 200 largest worldwide were located outside North America and Western Europe.
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and to provide innovative, practical recommendations. Brookings is ranked as the most influential, most quoted and most trusted think tank in the world.