Bethesda in Maryland Tops Forbes’s List of 10 Best U.S. Cities to Find Jobs
Five years after the global financial crisis hit in 2008 and Wall Street crashed, unemployment remains a top problem in the United States. Across the 50 states, the unemployment rate is 7.6 per cent in March, slightly down from 7.7 per cent in February 2013.
It is still higher than the average of 5.81 per cent from 1948 to 2013.
However, there are some cities that logged better employment rates than others. Forbes Magazine compiled the top 10 U.S. cities where employment opportunities are higher based on statistics provided by human resources company Adecco Staffing which in turn sources it from the U.S. Department of Labor.
Here are the top 10.
1. Bethesda, Maryland - This city enjoyed the lowest unemployment rate of 5.2 per cent as of February 2013. Jobs are available at hospitality, construction and healthcare sectors, while skills in demand include specialty trade contractors, accounting and bookkeeping and food service. Besides being the best place to find work, Bethesda is also number one on Forbes's list of the country's most educated small towns, on CNNMoney's top-earning American towns and second on Forbes's most livable cities.
2. Austin, Texas - The city has an unemployment rate of 5.3 per cent and offers jobs in the healthcare, professional and business services and manufacturing industries. Jobs in demand are customer service at inbound and outbound call centres and healthcare customer support.
3. Jacksonville, Florida - The city has 6.5 per cent unemployment rate and workers seeking jobs in IT, education and healthcare have good chances of finding jobs here, particularly those skilled in administrative tasks, call centre roles and food service/hospitality trade.
4. Grand Rapids, Michigan - The city has 6.6 per cent. Those seeking jobs with skills as information specialists, in manufacturing, administrative or skilled labor tasks have better chances of being employed in the city's healthcare, financial services, education, IT and engineering sectors.
5. Columbus, Ohio - Openings in this city with an unemployment rate of 6.4 per cent include those for skilled laborers, administrative workers and assembly production. The vacancies are mostly in its automotive, technology and healthcare industries.
6. Seattle, Washington - Top jobs in demand here are those for engineers, assemblers and administrators in the city's manufacturing, education and health services sectors. Seattle's unemployment rate is 5.5 per cent.
7. Phoenix, Arizona - Industries in this city that have vacancies for food and retail distribution workers, customer service/call centre experts and administrative employees could find vacancies in leisure and hospitality, construction and financial services companies despite the 6.7 per cent unemployment rate.
8. New York, New York - While the Big Apple has an 8.9 per cent unemployment rate, there are nevertheless job opportunities in this cosmopolitan city for business analysts, auditors, financial administrative support and design and digital workers are its financial services, retail and technology sectors.
9. Richmond, Virginia - Offer job vacancies for those with experience in customer service/call centres, finance, distribution and manufacturing. This, despite the 6.2 per cent joblessness rate in Richmond.
10. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - The city enjoys the lowest unemployment rate of 4.9 per cent, but job openings are mostly in its aviation, aerospace, biotechnology and logistics sectors, primarily for technicians, engineers, assemblers/machinists and administrative employees.