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Best U.S. Cities for Jobs

best-job-big-cities-oklahoma-cityYesterday, I showed you a map charting the month-to-month trajectory of job losses across America in the past couple of years. For those having trouble finding work where you currently live, I suggested considering relocating to find work in parts of the country where there are jobs.

Last week, Forbes published their fifth annual “Best Cities for Jobs.” The study is based on the Metropolitan Statistical Areas published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The analysis looked at  job growth in the last year and at how employment figures have changed since 1996.

They found that metropolitan areas in Texas and college towns have the best opportunities — or “least worst,” according to the authors — for employment.

“The reasons for the state’s relative success are varied. A healthy energy industry is certainly one cause. Many Texas high-fliers, including Odessa, Longview, Dallas and Houston, are home to energy companies that employ hordes of people–and usually at fairly high salaries for both blue- and white-collar workers,” according to the article.

Here are the top 10 best big cities to find work:

1. Austin-Round Rock, Texas

2. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas

3. San Antonio, Texas

4. Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas

5. Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas

6. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash.

7. Salt Lake City, Utah

8. Raleigh-Cary, N.C.

9. Oklahoma City, Okla.

10. Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Ore.-Wash.

For the full list of cities and to read about why they have the most available jobs, click here.

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Jeff Young

Who researches and who publishes these so-called, 'best U.S. cities for jobs'? What criteria are these cities being judged by? I wonder if there are hidden motives. Seattle, WA and Portland, OR might be best cities to work in for environment, but not because there's lots of jobs. Both cities were never known for plentiful job prospects. Seattle enjoyed a brief, two-year spate of fairly good employment at the height of the dotcom boom but when it went bust in 2000 Seattle went back to its typical high unemployment status. Don't pack up and go to Portland or Seattle just yet. As for Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, when did that state suddenly become a hot job place? Tulsa, OK was recently in the news for a number of city police officers getting laid off. What job prosperity? Don't believe everything you read. North Carolina's unemployment just recently rose notably. Maybe this list is about nice, livable cities, not about job prospects. The only places I can believe from that list are in Texas, one of only few states with a relatively stable economy with acceptable unemployment numbers. Everywhere else, everybody is losing his or her job or wondering when the ax is going to fall. Forget the present administration and the Democrat Party's ambitious socialist plans to terraform the U.S., we need a stabilized economy that's growing again to provide jobs and prevent present ones being lost. Why can't the U.S. rejuvenate manufacturing on its own soil? What's so low class about manufacturing that our politicians turn their collective noses up at it?

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Denver Executive Office Space

Good article thanks for the post. Before you start working, it is important that you look into the availability of jobs and offices in that region. Cities like these where the job market is higher should be higher consideration of living there when you find yourself looking for a job or a place to start a business.

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Trackbacks

  1. Freshers Yaar! » Blog Archive » Let the games begin! says:
    February 12, 2010 at 9:51 am

    [...] Best U.S. Cities for Jobs Yesterday, I showed you a map charting the month-to-month trajectory… [...]

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