Duluth Mayor Don Ness saw enough positive economic news last week about the Zenith City that he called a celebratory news conference.
"In recent years, we've had a general sense of optimism and progress in the city of Duluth, and now we're seeing this play out with hard data," he was reported saying in the Duluth News Tribune. "It's really exciting to see proof that Duluth is a city on the rise."
The News Tribune reported:
Ness is not wrong about any of this, even though Duluth's overall job growth has been tepid.
The state's second-largest metro economy is growing, with globe-minded companies and industries (I think of Ikonics International, taconite, paper, aerospace). The city is a trade center by rail and laker. Grain, coal, limestone and iron ore come and go from the ports.
Real GDP for the metro area has grown since 2009 faster than any metro economy in Minnesota and nearly twice as fast as the national average of 8 percent.
The one weak spot in Duluth has been overall job growth. The city is adding jobs slower than the rest of Minnesota. The metro area created only 947 jobs in the 12 months that ended in August, a growth rate of 0.7 percent.
Folks in Duluth are quick to point out that its numbers are dragged down by Superior, WI, and by the rest of St. Louis County.
