Texas cities dominate Forbes list of best places for jobs

[rainbow4321]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-topcities_21eco.ART.State.Edition1.4a8e8ca.html

Texas cities dominate a new list of the best places for jobs, with the top five large metropolitan areas for job growth all located in the Lone Star State, according to Forbes magazine.

Nine of the top 20 cities on Forbes' overall list are in Texas, with Odessa ranked No. 1.

Dallas-Plano-Irving ranked No. 5 in the magazine's list of the best large-size cities and 32nd overall

(snip)

The study is based on job growth in 333 regions across the U.S. The analysis looked not only at job growth in the last year but also at how employment figures have changed since 1996.

[sonias]

1. I saw that earlier - nice surprise

Forbes Best Cities for Jobs
(snip)
The top of the complete ranking--which, for ease, we have broken down into the two smaller lists, of the best big and small cities for jobs--is dominated by one state: Texas. The Lone Star State may have lost a powerful advocate in Washington, but it's home to a remarkable eight of the top 20 cities on our list--including No. 1-ranked Odessa, a small city in the state's northwestern region. Further, the top five large metropolitan areas for job growth--Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Ft. Worth and Dallas--are all in Texas' "urban triangle."

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. In some places, these spurts represent a huge reversal from the late 1990s. Take Odessa's remarkable 5.5% job growth in 2008, which followed a period of growth well under 1% from 1998 to 2002.

Odessa ranked #1? Energy industry


All Cities Rankings by Forbes

1 Odessa, TX
2 Grand Junction, CO
3 Longview, TX
4 Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA
5 Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX
6 Austin-Round Rock, TX
7 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX
8 Laredo, TX
9 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX
10 Tulsa, OK



Sonia

[tammywammy]

2. Longview?

Huh, who woulda thunk it.

My parents moved us out of Longview when I was 5 1985), my brothers were only a few years from graduating high school, mostly because there weren't any "good" jobs or opportunity there then.

I'll have to tell my dad I read this tomorrow. :)

[Lithos]

3. Hilarious

Considering that is the home of LaTourneau, known for it's heavy manufacturing and construction service industry - things which are considered dying in the US.

I liked that Austin was #1 of the large cities.

L-

[sonias]

4. We're #1, We're #1, We're #1

And for a good thing this time.

:kick:

Sonia

[tammywammy]

6. I don't want to come across as dissing Longview at all

But my at the time we left, from what my dad has said, is that all there was back then was basically make gloves or make tires.

I'm glad to see they're doing well.

I just never realized that Longview has changed, but then I was only 5 when we moved and I've never spent much time in the area (except the occasional visit to my dad's family in Tyler).

[kjackson227]

5. Too bad that nothing much is going on here in Dallas ~SIGH~

We do have our problems. Looks like all the big businesses are electing to go elsewhere for their company's homebase, yet Leppert and the other previously elected do-nothing mayors worry about their namesake landmarks. GEEZ.

[tammywammy]

7. I wish I lived in Dallas just to vote against that stupid hotel n/t

[kjackson227]

11. Can you believe the stupid hotel sham?

Don't mean to hijack the thread, sonia, but I just wanted to reply to tammywammy.

Tammywammy, I started noticing this focus on landmarks (not namesake like I previously called them, but landmarks that are their supposedly great idea, nevertheless) for Dallas when our deceased former mayor (Annette Strause)was more interested in creating the arts district (which I guess every booming city needs)... okay, I understand this one. But, more recently, we've had big businessman Ron Kirk who did nothing for Dallas with the exception of building the AAC (American Airline Center), that AWFUL Laura Miller whose only interest was creating that Trinity River park (ughhhh), and then she managed to lose the Dallas Cowboys AGAIN in addition to the Texas/OU games. Now, we have Leppert and his stupid hotel. I'd like to see our downtown area renovated and booming again, our streets are in horrible shape (even in some parts of Highland Park), and the drainage is getting bad, also.

Sorry for the rant, everyone!

[tammywammy]

12. Yeah, I really couldn't believe it when Miller lost the Cowboys

But Dallas' loss was Arlington's gain (if you wanna look at it that way).




That stupid Trinity River Park/Tollway and the hotel are some of the stupidest things to be coming out of Dallas in the last few years.

OMG! Did you hear John Wiley Price saying "Vote no for Jim Crow" about the hotel! I heard that on the radio today (I love Ernie & Jay on AM 1080 10am-2pm). I just wanted to smack Price, he said that the hotel would be a step back in race or something. :wtf:








Sorry Sonia :)

[kjackson227]

13. Tammywammy, so is JWP telling us to vote "No" which is a vote "For"...

the hotel???

[tammywammy]

14. Yes

Apparently there's a guy (last name Crow, first name NOT Jim) that's in the hotel business that's leading the vote 'yes' (not hotel) campaign. You have got to hear what Price said though. Something like "Vote No on Jim Crow" and that it would be a step back. The guys on the radio heard it on WFAA, I believe. It was pretty ridiculous what Price was saying.


edited to add: Here's an article

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2009/04/jwp_we_need_to_vote_no_to_jim.php

"A lot of us are brought up in the South under what we call Jim Crow, and everyone else is probably not going to deal in regards to this, but this is me. I approve of this message," Price said. "I'm basically saying that we need to vote no to Jim Crow. This is taking us back. Fort Worth has a convention center hotel. Houston has a convention center hotel. How dare they want to take Dallas back. So on May the 9th or April the 27th, whichever day you decide to go vote, I'm asking you to vote no to a man named Crow."


and there's more here http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/archives/john-wiley-price/

[kjackson227]

15. I think JWP has lost his mind. Seems a lot of our black officials have done so over the years.

I agree with Price that it will create a FEW jobs, but what will happen AFTER this thing is built??? We'll have to pay for it.

[tammywammy]

16. I think if there was a reason for it, private business would have built it

Price wants people to vote FOR the hotel. Maybe if it was a smaller hotel, with a cheaper price tag, I could see that, but as of now, I just see it failing and Dallas taxpayers being on the hook for it.

[sonias]

8. Big cities ranking - Dallas area is #5

You aren't that bad off. You jumped up from #32 to #5. Look at the bright side. It could be going south and it's not.

Forbes ranking large size cities
1 Austin-Round Rock, TX
2 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX
3 San Antonio, TX
4 Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metropolitan Division
5 Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX Metropolitan Division
6 Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA Metropolitan Division
7 Salt Lake City, UT
8 Raleigh-Cary, NC
9 Oklahoma City, OK
10 Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA

:kick:


Sonia

[kjackson227]

10. Oh, okay. I guess I didn't read well enough, LOL! Yep, 5th place is much better...

but we've got Plano in the mix which is helping us out, and probably why we were able to reach 5th place.

[tammywammy]

9. As far as Arlington

Other than GM it's basically all retail and tourist jobs here. Hopefully there's some changes on the City Council next month, where they'll push for more industry jobs here.


And THANK GOD this is the only GM plant that hasn't been effected much lately, they're still running 2 shifts.

[Honeycombe8]

17. Note that it's job GROWTH. Not jobs. If you had one job last year,

and now you have two...that's a 100% rate in job GROWTH.

Growth is important, but it can be deceptive. I wouldn't move to Odessa in the hopes of finding a job.

[hobbit709]

18. Wherever these "jobs" are

They're certainly NOT in the want ads. I know four people who work on drilling rigs that have been laid off in the last 5 months.

[FloriTexan]

19. When was this survey done?

I live in the Dallas area and everyone is laying off. Law firms, construction, engineering firms, architectural firms moving companies, restaurants. I just named all the places I know where people work and personally know people affected. Some of these jobs (legal secretaries particularly) won't ever come back. That said, I do realize we are in much better shape than the rest of the country but still. The want ads for jobs are down to half a page and like 3 columns. There are more ads for pets.

My husband was laid off about a month ago (plumbing designer). There are no jobs in his field to even interview for. Nothing posted. My republican brother (working as an engineer in defense industry) called me to see how the job search was going the other night and was shocked when I told him there had been no hits and no jobs to apply for. He advised me that we had the best market every, like my husband must be doing something wrong if he hasn't found a job yet. Sheesh, I want to live in his world. Perhaps now that Obama is reigning in the defense spending, he'll understand, but man I was pissed, still steamed about it.