Boston Tops In Quarterly Job Ranking Of Major Cities
BOSTON (CBS) - Boston ranked first in the Business Journals' latest quarterly analysis of 100 major metropolitan job market data.
Among the leaders in the second quarter of 2011, Boston joined a mixture of Sunbelt boomtowns and Northern industrial areas.
Lisa van der Pool of the Boston Business Journal reports
Boston is one of just 13 markets that have more private-sector jobs now than five years ago.
Its growth rate in the past 12 months has been an impressive 2.7 percent, and its unemployment rate is a relatively low 7.1 percent.
Worcester ranked third in the nation, with 4.3 percent growth and unemployment down to 8.4 percent.
A Boston Business Journal report last week rounded up Boston-area companies that announced major hiring or layoffs during the month of July.
The rankings are based on private-sector job data and unemployment rates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The full standings and selected categories can be found in a database accessible via a link at the end of this article.
Fifty percent of each market's score is based on its annual private-sector growth rates during the past five years, 30 percent on its jobless rates over the past 12 months, and 20 percent on its raw changes in private-sector employment in half a decade.
Here are the two extremes in the employment rankings:
Top 10:
1. Boston
2. Ogden, Utah
3. Worcester
4. Dallas-Fort Worth
5. Houston
6. Oklahoma City
7. Omaha
8. Akron, Ohio
9. Rochester, N.Y.
10. Grand Rapids, Mich.
Bottom 10:
100. Fresno, Calif.
99. Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif.
98. Palm Bay-Melbourne, Fla.
97. Stockton, Calif.
96. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.
95. Las Vegas
94. Memphis
93. Modesto, Calif.
92. Sacramento
91. Los Angeles
Fresno has lost 10.1 percent of its employment base during the past half-decade. Its jobless rate is a steep 16.8 percent.
Browse the journals' interactive database of metropolitan job market rankings for the second quarter of 2011 here
