The New Orleans area economy churned more dollars in 2011, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, but the metropolitan area's total economic production slipped slightly in the face of inflation. The New Orleans gross domestic product was about $80.2 billion, the bureau said, giving it the 41st largest economy among 366 metropolitan areas.
New Orleans generated $69.4 billion worth of goods and services in 2008, $64.7 billion in 2009 and $75.8 billion in 2010.
Those numbers represent what the bureau calls "current dollars." The "real" domestic product, tethered to the value of dollars from a 2005 starting point, was $66.8 billion, down .8 percent from 2010.
Nationally, the bureau reported, 242 of the metropolitan areas showed growth in real domestic product, spurred by professional and business services, durable goods manufacturing and trade. Cumulatively, it was a 1.6 percent increase.
New Orleans saw upticks in trade, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, financial activities, construction and education and health services but slips in manufacturing, natural resources and mining and government.
The current dollar domestic production of all metropolitan areas in the United States was $13.4 trillion in 2011. The real domestic product of all cities was $11.8 trillion.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.