Where people live within the U.S. can drastically change their perception of events. For example, while those in some areas may be ecstatic about how home prices are rising and the profit they are going to make when they sell their homes, others may be feeling the exact opposite as they see their home’s value rising at a glacial pace.
As Forbes reports, job growth is another aspect of the economy that has been unequally distributed across the country, and the national numbers don’t necessarily reflect what is actually happening in various cities around the nation. For instance, U.S. employment in software publishing is up 5.5 percent from last year and is 26 percent above the sector’s prior peak in 2001. But much of this growth has been focused in the San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco metropolitan area, whose IT sector expanded 6.8 percent last year and has grown 62 percent since 2010. This increase, combined with healthy growth in the professional business service sector, which has grown 45 percent since 2010, has helped the San Francisco metro area grow 23.8 percent overall since 2010 and place first on Forbes’ list of The Best Cities For Jobs for the second year in a row.
Coming in at second place on the list is the nearby San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro area. The San Jose experienced job growth of 4.10 percent in 2015 and 20.76 percent since 2010. But it isn’t just California or the West that is seeing strong job growth. The Sun Belt is making quite a comeback, as well, after suffering greatly in the wake of the housing bust. Now, however, it is the region Americans are flocking to like swallows, leading to a resurgence in the area.
Orlando is the perfect example of this, as the city jumped 14 places from last years list and had a job growth rate in 2015 of 4.6 percent, equaling that of San Francisco’s growth rate.
Not doing quite so well is the Midwest region. Chicago, for example, dropped three positions to 47th overall while seeing its industrial sector continue to shrink and its overall population decline, as well (many former residents deciding to head to the aforementioned Sun belt).
For Forbes’ entire list of the best cities for jobs, follow the link below.
