The Regional Economies

The U.S. economy may be sluggish, but not in Denver, where the influx of tourists and Titan missile contracts has helped to boost the value of new construction by 90% this year. The sun also shines on Hawaii, where tourism is up 19%. In Nevada, personal income is running 13% higher than last year's levels. The gaps in the New England economy, left by the wholesale departure of the textile industry, are being filled by electronics. Personal income in the area is up almost 7% from a year ago.

The nation's economy is in fact a mixture that varies not only by industry but by region (see map). A business slowdown has been most evident in the long-established industrial regions, notably the great northern tier from New York to Wisconsin, where half the nation's budget for plant and equipment is spent.

With the softness in steel, coal and rails, general business activity in the Pittsburgh area, as measured by the University of Pittsburgh, is down to 84.4% of the 1957-59 average. One in ten workers is unemployed, and 156,000 families in Allegheny County are eligible for free federal surplus food. Chicago's economy, though growing, expands at a rate slower than that of the nation as a whole. The city's business is widely diversified, but is light on the fastest-growing industries, such as aerospace and electronics. The fastest-growing regions--the West and the Southeast--are becoming increasingly self-sufficient by developing their own industries such as metals, chemicals, refining and clothing. And giant industries concentrated in the North, such as the auto industry in Michigan, are spreading out around the country, opening new plants closer to markets.

Industries in the past sprang up near ore beds and oil pools, or near railroads and rivers, but now tend to grow better where the climate is gentle. Planemakers settled in California for the good flying weather; largely because of aerospace and the sun, California by year's end will surpass New York as the nation's biggest state in terms of population. In the South, many states are also doing well because they have wooed industry by offering tax breaks, low-wage labor, right-to-work laws. The nation's booming service industries grow with the influx of people, which is one reason why the incomes of Arizona and Alaska are on the rise.

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