Wichita — Sept. 11 hit few cities harder economically than this commercial airline manufacturing hub thousands of miles from New York, a national study says.
Wichita comes in seventh in the metropolitan areas with the highest percentage of jobs lost after the attacks, according to the Milken Institute report released Friday.
It may be slow to snap back because of the attacks' effect on the area's commercial airline production. Researchers for the think tank based in Santa Monica, Calif., predict that by 2004, the city will have the highest lingering job loss percentage.
Wichita-area economic experts and politicians put out a rosier picture, with some including Mayor Bob Knight predicting the economy could bounce back by later this year.
Knight said the community has been through downturns before and knows "how to play a bad hand well."
The Milken study used economic models to predict employment losses based on economic trends in 315 cities before Sept. 11.
It predicts that about 1.6 million people will lose their jobs nationally this year because of fallout from the Sept. 11 attacks. Las Vegas ranked No. 1, with a projected 5 percent decline in jobs.
The Milken study predicted gloomy long-term economic news in Wichita because of the region's reliance on aircraft manufacturing.
The city has the highest concentration of aircraft and parts employment in the nation, the study said.
Wichita is expected to lose 4,600 jobs in aircraft and parts production this year and 8,300 total jobs. But the study predicts that the area will only regain 1,700 of the lost jobs by 2004.
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