Modest gain says numbers moving in right direction

Unless you're already quite wealthy, a 4.3 percent income hike won't pay for a sleek new yacht or that vacation chalet in Aspen. But as big-picture economic indicators go, an increase of that size in the Columbus metro area's per capita income is statistically significant and a valid reason for cautious optimism.

As Ledger-Enquirer business writer Tony Adams reported Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released figures showing that this metro area's 2014 per capita income of $36,683 was fourth in Georgia, behind Atlanta, Savannah and Warner Robins.

Everything, especially in economics, is relative: Columbus income still ranks in the lower tier among the 380 metropolitan statistical areas in the United States, at 267, and much of last year's improvement was due to a bounce-back from a down year in 2013.

But that 2014 improvement was 63rd best among those 380 metros, and second only to Athens-Clarke County in the state. Georgia, it should be remembered, is a state where the Great Recession took an especially heavy toll, and where recovery has been slower than average.

But it's also true, as Mayor Teresa Tomlinson pointed out, that Columbus was not hit as hard as other, mostly larger cities such as Atlanta and Miami, though the city has "had sustained and suppressed economic activity as a result of the recession. So we're still fighting our way out of that "

The stubbornly high Columbus jobless rate remains a source of economic frustration. Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce Vice President Bill Murphy noted that "anytime you're dealing with sampling like this, you do run the risk of getting those anomalies, and sometimes that's to our favor and sometime's that's to our detriment." The September unemployment rate was 6.7 percent, second highest in the state, though the addition of 2,700 local jobs over the past year might help lower that number.

That's the anomaly -- or one of them, anyway: Working people in Columbus are earning more, but too many are not earning at all. If that latter number can shrink and the former continue to rise, local economic optimism will need fewer qualifying adjectives.

Miracles to come

Scott Ressmeyer's Miracle Riders have joined forces with the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley. Between them, the money the Miracle Riders have raised for years now will continue to help the Children's Miracle Network, Boys & Girls Club, and other worthy causes.

"Anything we can do to make a positive difference in a kid's life, we want to do," said Ressmeyer, co-owner of Country's Barbecue. "Working with the Community Foundation gives us an avenue to reach out to other organizations."

There is no more effective "reaching out" avenue to be found.

This story was originally published November 22, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Modest gain says numbers moving in right direction."