The 10 best and worst cities for employment
Three of the worst are in California. The best one probably isn’t where you think.
Manpower, the employment services company, compiled the lists using what’s called the “net employment outlook” (NEO) for listed cities. It’s a figure derived by taking the percentage of employers who say they’re going to be hiring and the percentage of employers who say they’re going to be laying off, and subtracting one from the other.
So, for example, if 20% of employers in a city said they’d be hiring and 11% said they’d be laying off, the NEO would be +9%. If 10% of employers said they’d be hiring and 15% said they’d be laying off, the NEO would be -5%.
Best
- Lincoln, NE, NEO +17%
- Kennewick-Richland-Pasco, WA, +11%
- Columbus, GA, +10%
- Rochester, NY, +10%
- Waco, TX, +10%
- Lafayette, LA, +9%
- McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX, +9%
- York-Hanover, PA, +9%
- Anchorage, AK, +8%
- Sioux Falls, SD, +8%
Worst
- Flint, MI, -17%
- Detroit, MI, -14%
- Salinas, CA, -15%
- Dayton, OH, -14%
- Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA, -13%
- Las Vegas, NV, -13%
- Myrtle Beach, SC, -13%
- San Juan, PR, -13%
- Bakersfield, CA, -12%
- Stockton, CA, -12%