“[Virginia’s] lagging the U.S. overall,” partly a result of the decrease in federal funds to the state, Filer said. Lynchburg has been the worst of the metropolitan areas in the state. Its GDP has an average annual decrease of .5 percent between 2009 and 2014.

But, “it isn’t necessarily the case that Lynchburg has been dragging” the entire time, Filer said. In 2010, it had one of the highest GDP growths. GDP is the sum of all goods and services produced inside a jurisdiction.

Tourism revenues have increased significantly in Lynchburg, reaching levels higher than before the Great Recession. Central Virginia’s tourism grew the second-most of other metro regions in the state between 2013 and 2014 and revenue per room has increased by one-third from 2007 to 2015.

In another market bucking the downward trend, housing in the Lynchburg region “has actually bounced back very well,” Filer said. Home prices increased 52 percent between last year and this year and the number of homes sold so far this year is higher than 2007.

But recovery is occurring still in Central Virginia. About 6,500 jobs are needed to recover jobs lost in the 2009 recession and wage growth is minimal, at 1.4 percent for the region between 2009 and 2014, according to ODU’s research.

Read the full article at http://www.newsadvance.com/work_it_lynchburg/news/lynchburg-area-economy-still-shaking-off-recession-annual-econ-summit/article_a2344b30-a4ae-11e5-a798-c38eb883c7ce.html?mode=jqm