“The Easiest And Hardest Cities For Finding A Job”

The Easiest And Hardest Cities For Finding A Job

Posted: 10 Feb 2011 02:27 PM PST

If you've exhausted all other options, relocating can be a smart move for improving your job prospects--but be sure to check where people are hiring, and in what industries before you pack your bags and go.

The scrumptious Cajun cuisine and sweet jazz of New Orleans may make that city seem the perfect place for a fresh start--but the Big Easy is right now the toughest city in the U.S. for finding employment, according to the online job aggregator Indeed.com.

In Pictures: The Easiest Cities For Finding A Job

In Pictures: The Hardest Cities For Finding A Job

"New Orleans never fully recovered from the Katrina disaster, and tourism hasn't bounced back," says Paul Forster, Indeed.com's chief executive officer and cofounder. "But I think we'll see some improvement over the next year."

Indeed.com compiled a list of America's easiest and hardest cities for finding a job using data collected from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The ranking was determined by calculating the number of job postings per thousand people in each major U.S. metropolitan area. The data covers job listings in the fourth quarter of 2010 with salary estimates of $50,000 or more.

The picture this offers does not reflect a precise number of available jobs. An opening can be listed in more than one place and can remain online for a time after it's filled. Nevertheless, the numbers do present a strong, broad gauge of which cities are the easiest and hardest for finding a job.

Historically, the easiest cities for finding a job thrive on industries that benefit from shifts in the economy or trends, says Forster. And the hardest cities rely on industries that suffer most during economic downturns. The rankings of the easiest and hardest cities for finding jobs confirm his view.

The results show that life is not a beach for job seekers in Miami. The cruise capital may have good air quality, clean drinking water and vast green spaces, but it doesn't have many openings. According to Indeed.com, Miami had 14 listings for high-paying jobs, per 1,000 residents, over the whole fourth quarter of 2010.

Your chances of finding a job in a colder place like Buffalo or Rochester, N.Y., are just as dim. There were merely 11 job postings for every 1,000 people in those metro areas, which tied for the second hardest place for finding a job.

Don't lose all hope, though. There are plenty of cities with thousands of high-paying jobs. San Jose, San Francisco and Seattle are three of the top five easiest cities for finding a job.

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Thursday, February 10, 2011