As the economy steadily improves, job seekers are finally seeing a much-needed increase in managerial hiring activity, as well as less frantic competition for available positions. That said, not all cities are benefiting equally from the national rebound. Many are once-again enjoying steady growth, but some located in weaker regions or dependent on flagging industries are still suffering from a poor job market.
Job seekers who still can't seem to connect with employers in weaker markets may want to consider expanding their horizons. And according to the latest data from the CareerCast.com/JobSerf Employment Index, which measures the availability of managerial jobs across the U.S., their best bet would be to try heading for the nation's capital. For the second month in a row, Washington, D.C., leads all other cities with the largest number of online job openings per capita.
The current economic recovery continues to be led by government hiring and high-tech industries, which is reflected in this month's three best cities to find a job: D.C., Boston and Seattle. In addition, while no new metro area rose into the top eight, the rankings shuffled slightly in favor of technology centers, with San Francisco displacing Chicago to boast the 4th highest volume of available jobs per capita.
If you're not a fan of politics, coffee or the Red Sox, however, where should you go to have the best chance of getting a new managerial job? Based on the number of online listings per capita, in August 2009 these were the eight best cities to find a new job:
| City | Index Ranking | Index Score |
|---|---|---|
| Washington, D.C. | 1 | 137 |
| Boston | 2 | 101 |
| Seattle | 3 | 62 |
| San Francisco | 4 | 61 |
| Atlanta | 5 | 55 |
| Chicago | 6 | 54 |
| New York | 7 | 51 |
| Baltimore | 8 | 50 |
Additionally, some of the 29 major metro areas surveyed failed to make the top eight, but nonetheless enjoyed healthy gains during August. In particular Houston, Los Angeles and Miami all rose 4 spots, to 12th, 15th and 20th place, respectively. At this rate both Houston and Los Angels could be in the top eight by the fall.
Of course, not every city benefited from the continuing job market rebound. Once again, Riverside, in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, trailed all surveyed metro areas by a significant margin. Hit hard by the housing crisis and other factors, Riverside showed no improvement in August, and continues to offer job seekers fewer open positions per capita than any other city in America.
Most other cities in the bottom eight also showed little-to-no improvement, with the notable exceptions of Tampa Bay, which moved up one spot in the rankings, and Miami, which managed to escape the bottom eight altogether (and is replaced by Phoenix).
For job seekers looking to take advantage of the improving employment outlook, it may be best to avoid these metro areas, which comprise this month’s eight worst cities to find a job:
| City | Index Ranking | Index Score |
|---|---|---|
| Riverside, CA | 29 | 11 |
| Detroit | 28 | 17 |
| Memphis | 27 | 20 |
| Louisville | 26 | 25 |
| Tampa | 25 | 25 |
| St. Louis | 24 | 28 |
| Cincinnati | 23 | 28 |
| Phoenix | 22 | 29 |
To get the complete picture, however, it’s important to have more data than just the eight best and worst cities to find jobs. The CareerCast.com/JobSerf Employment Index fully breaks down the job market every month, examining trends nationally, as well as according to region and job level. For more info see our complete report on U.S. hiring activity for August 2009.
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