Employment a problem in your town? These U.S. cities may have more to offer…
I was skimming through some of the recent posts I’ve written for OnlineCareerGuide.com, and I noticed that most of them were based on career-specific news, articles, and statistics. I wanted to shift gears a bit today, so I chose to write about locations instead. Yesterday Forbes.com published its list of the “Best Cities for Jobs in 2008.” Even though I’ve seen lists like this before, I welcome the fact that it isn’t geared toward any particular profession or industry. The rankings assess general employment, providing an overall picture of the U.S. marketplace that is ideal for a post like this, as the information can apply to anyone and everyone.
This list certainly isn’t a definitive answer to the question of where to look for your next job, because (as stated in the article that accompanies it), the rankings don’t account for job composition or job stability. Also, if you have any idea of what field you’d like to work in, that detail should take precedence over any unemployment rate or income statistic. That being said, Forbes’s “Best Cities” list is a great way to rejuvenate your options when searching for a new place to work and live, and it can open your eyes to areas that you wouldn’t normally consider.
The 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country were evaluated for this study, and each region was ranked according to its median household income, unemployment rate, income growth, cost of living, and job growth. After combining all of these rankings together, the areas with the best overall employment outlooks are as follows:
1. Salt Lake City, UT
2. Wichita, KS
3. Austin, TX
4. Atlanta, GA
5. Forth Worth, TX
6. Indianapolis, IN
7. Houston, TX
8. Omaha, NE
9. Raleigh, NC
10. Seattle, WA
San Antonio and Dallas helped round out the top 20 cities, giving Texas a total of five metro areas with strong positioning in the marketplace (and making it a serious contender for those who can stand the hot weather). The leisure and hospitality, educational and health services, and commercial construction industries are helping the state to fare well in spite of a weakening national economy. Other cities that placed within the top 20 include Birmingham, Albuquerque, Nashville, Little Rock, Denver, Wilmington (DE), Oklahoma City, and Honolulu (which sounds a little more like my kind of climate).
Of the best cities that Forbes.com mentions; Atlanta owes its success to its transportation, distribution, and financial services sectors; the saving grace of Indianapolis is its agriculture; Omaha has remained stable because of financial services and agriculture as well; while Seattle has stayed viable because of its aerospace and global trade professions. You heard it here first: Seattle and the aerospace industry are about to take off. No pun intended. Ok fine, it was intended.