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April 25, 2012Economic development converges for business lunch
April 25, 2012
Walter Arnette and James Crowe have a lot in common. They are both professionals in two influential industries. They each live in areas they believe advantageous for their families. They both claim benefits to the regions where they work and play. They even cross paths twice a day as they meet going opposite directions on U.S. Highway 90.
Arnette and Crowe are among the more than 19,000 people that commute between the Houma-Thibodaux and New Orleans metropolitan areas daily. They represent what statisticians claim is a distinct economic tie across southeast Louisiana.
“The U.S. Census shows that in 2010 there were 11,133 people that commuted from Houma-Thibodaux to [metropolitan] New Orleans,” Greater New Orleans Community Data Center spokesperson Elaine Ortiz said.
Ortiz noted that approximately 8,000 people are documented in Census findings as living in the New Orleans area and driving to work in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes.
Crowe is a doctor of internal medicine who lives in the central business district of New Orleans. He is in a carpool with Drs. Shaminder Gupta and Dayton Daberkow. The trio travels from New Orleans to Houma where they are staff physicians at Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center.
“I like where I work, but I also like where I live,” Crowe said. “Our friends and families are close to where we live and our children are in school [in New Orleans].” The physician also noted that his wife is working on a PhD at Tulane University so the idea of his commuting to Houma is easier to justify than her commuting to the Big Easy.
“The drive time is good for us,” Crowe said. “We can discuss medical issues or make telephone calls that we might not get to during the day. The only time there is a problem is when traffic gets congested on Interstate 10 or Interstate 310.”
Arnette works in sales with petrochemical processor Nalco. He makes his trip from Houma to company offices either in Garyville or Baton Rouge on a daily basis.
“In this industry they want you to be in a central location among clients,” Arnette said. “So this works out fine for me.”
Like most salesmen who spend a great deal of time on the road, Arnette said his only complaint is driving during poor weather conditions. Other than that he welcomes being able to live in Houma and being paid a stipend for road time.
According to Ortiz, approximately 68,000 workers commuted between the New Orleans metropolitan area and its neighbors of Baton Rouge and Houma–Thibodaux in 2010. The three-way connection represents an 11 percent increase of commuter interaction since 2004, despite substantial population and job losses in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.
Census Bureau data indicates growing economic connections between the three metropolitan statistical areas that include elements forming what the GNOCDC calls a “super region.”
Suburbs are generally identified as residential areas, existing as part of a region, but as separate bedroom communities within commuting distance of a central city.
By contrast, super regions are comprised of independent areas deriving strength by shared or complimentary economic elements. Overlapping commuter patterns suggest the presence of a shared, specialized workforce and common strengths from which individual parts benefit the whole.
“I think the data shows that we are connected to one another in terms of economies,” Ortiz said. “Houma-Thibodaux is certainly a job center. New Orleans might have lost population during Katrina, but now you see more people who live in Houma-Thibodaux but work in New Orleans.”
According to the Census Bureau, during 2010 approximately 21 percent of New Orleans workers commuted from outside the immediate area. That number is up from the 13 percent that was posted in 2004.
Oil and gas along with shipbuilding offer driving forces for the Houma-Thibodaux contribution for growing regional economic interaction.
“We think this shows potential for working together in economic development,” Ortiz said. “Houma-Thibodaux has common things to share with New Orleans just as New Orleans does with Baton Rouge. Regions like these are finding they have reasons to collaborate to increase competitiveness in a global market.”
“The super region idea is a growing one,” Terrebonne Economic Development Authority CEO Steve Vassallo said. “You can go anywhere in the world and people know where New Orleans is. So, the more we can do here with New Orleans is only going to make us stronger.”
According to a report by Harvard University economist Michael Porter, the complexities of a global economy reveal that regions where local interconnections have been established become leaders in trade and commerce.
Ortiz said workers commuting among Houma-Thibodaux, New Orleans and Baton Rouge are more likely than the average worker to be earning either less than $1,251 per month or more than $3,333 per month.
Cross-metro commuters are also more likely to be younger than 30-years-old and less likely to be older than 55 when compared to the average worker of their respective industries.
Ortiz said although they might not be as established as in some regions of the nation, commute patterns being observed among Houma-Thibodaux, New Orleans and Baton Rouge are similar to cross-commuting levels of existing super regions.
Recognized super regions in other parts of the country include Dallas-Fort Worth, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, San Francisco-Oakland and Washington-Baltimore. Ortiz projects that southeast Louisiana could soon be added to that list.
Southeast Louisiana has a competitive advantage, according to Ortiz, because as a region it has locally-based interconnected firms and institutions. She clarified that more research is needed to definitively identify industrial specialties and how they play into local assets for the three metropolitan areas while being a benefit for the overall super region.
Arnette and Crowe never thought of themselves as helping create a super region. They are simply pleased to live and work where they do, regardless where the road might lead.
The GNOCDC is a non-profit academic center that analyzes data to assist community and business groups in strategic development. It is funded in part by Baptist Community Ministries, Community Revitalization Fund of the Greater New Orleans Foundation, Metropolitan Opportunity Fund at the Greater New Orleans Foundation, United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area, the Ford Foundation, the Foundation for Louisiana and the Surdna Foundation.
