One Of The Reasons I Live in Austin, Texas
Jan 7 2009
Austin ranks 10th in the U.S. in job creation
Austin Business Journal
Here’s the full story: http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2009/01/05/daily17.html
The Austin area added 6,200 private-sector jobs in the 12-month period between November 2007 and November 2008—the 10th biggest gain in metro employment in the country—according to figures released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Texas is showing considerable resilience amid a crippled national economy. The two largest markets in the state—Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth—registered the nation’s biggest private-sector employment gains.
The Houston area added 42,400 jobs between November 2007 and November 2008, and Dallas-Fort Worth picked up 35,100. No other U.S. market gained more than 15,600 private-sector jobs during the 12-month period.
All four of Texas’ major metro areas ranked among the top 10 in job creation in the last year. San Antonio was No. 4 with 11,700 new jobs.
But the rest of the country isn’t faring nearly so well. Just one-fifth of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas managed to add any jobs at all. Seventy-eight suffered losses, 21 posted increases, and one was unchanged.
Detroit was hit with the biggest loss of private-sector jobs, 67,700 in 12 months. November 2008 brought the 38th straight monthly decline for Detroit.
Four other markets lost more than 50,000 private-sector jobs during the past year: Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami-Fort Lauderdale and Phoenix.
The following are the 100 biggest labor markets in America, ranked according to raw change in private-sector employment between November 2007 and November 2008:
1. Houston, up 42,400 jobs
2. Dallas-Fort Worth, up 35,100 jobs
3. Washington, up 15,600 jobs
4. San Antonio, up 11,700 jobs
5. Seattle, up 9,900 jobs
6. Virginia Beach-Norfolk, up 9,100 jobs
7. Oklahoma City, up 8,100 jobs
8. New Orleans, up 7,200 jobs
9. McAllen-Edinburg, Texas, up 6,700 jobs
10. Austin, up 6,200 jobs
Add to this the fact that Austin is also routinely ranked as one of the best places to live in the country, one of the top creative cities, has a very “open” perspective (relative to the rest of the State), etc, etc. Oh, can I also suggest the “water”? As in lakes and stuff. When I lived in California for 5 years or so one of the things I missed was being able to swim in a large body of water without having to fear great whites, deal with frigid water temperatues, and otherwise avoid being tangled up in kelp!
Erin – yes, the water is nice to look at and go out on occasionally. It’s especially nice to go to the Oasis!