Job posting activity increased dramatically in July, bringing the number of job openings available online back to levels not seen since November, 2008. However not all cities benefited, as Washington, D.C., had more jobs than any other major U.S. urban area.
- CareerCast.com/JobSerf Employment Index July 2009
- July Hiring Overall
- July Hiring by Job Title
- July Hiring by City
- October Hiring by Region
If you're a job seeker who's having trouble finding a managerial position, it may be time to consider a move to the nation's capital. According to the CareerCast.com/JobSerf Employment Index for July 2009, Washington, D.C., currently has more white-collar job openings than any other city in America.
Of the 20 major metro areas measured in this month's report, Washington, D.C., had by far the highest volume of online job openings, with nearly one and a half as many as second-place Boston. Benefiting from an increase in federal jobs due to the recent stimulus package (among other factors), the D.C. area performed well above average. That said, job-posting activity across the Northeast region overall was just below that of the Southwest, which led the nation with an Index score of 88.1.
After Washington, D.C., and Boston, Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco round out the top five U.S. cities boasting the most jobs available online, with all posting scores above average. Conversely, job seekers seeking greener pastures would be better off avoiding St. Louis, Miami, Tampa Bay, Detroit and Riverside, Calif., which had the lowest number of available jobs out of all cities surveyed in July. Last-place Riverside in particular ranked far below average, with the nation's capital boasting over 10 times as many available white-collar jobs during the month. For complete information on the best and worst cities to find a job, check out our full report.
The CareerCast.com/JobSerf employment index measures the volume of online job posting for managerial positions across the U.S. each month, breaking down results by job level, region and city. Overall, the number of available jobs rose dramatically in July, jumping 17.8 points to an index score of 78.2. This represents a 20% increase from June, and the third consecutive month of positive activity after the job market bottomed out in April, when the Index score fell to 41.4. In addition, while the recovery that began in May slowed considerably last month, July's return to robust gains indicates that a sustained recovery in the job market may finally be underway.
CareerCast.com/JobSerf Index scores for each month are measured against a base score of 100, which represents the level of hiring activity during the same month in 2007. A score higher than 100 indicates that the number of available jobs is greater than it was during the same month in 2007, while a score below 100 means that job posting activity is lower than in 2007.
Focusing on white-collar positions, the CareerCast/JobSerf Employment Index separates available jobs into Manager, Director, VP and C-Level categories. All categories improved again this month, with Managerial positions in particular seeing an impressive 20-point increase. After leading the pack in June, the growth rate for C-Suite positions slowed considerably, while job seekers looking for a Director position saw a healthy, 19-point increase in the amount of available jobs. The number of available VP positions continued to lag behind other levels, however, scoring 11 points less than the next-worst finisher with an Index score of just 66.
July now marks three straight months of improved hiring activity, and more importantly at an overall Index score of 78.2, the number of jobs available online has returned to an amount not seen since November, 2008. Reaching levels from before the recent downturn began in mid-2008, however, will take a sustained, long-term recovery. But in the meantime, struggling job seekers might be best served looking for work in Seattle, Boston and Washington, D.C.
For complete information on employment by region, job level and the top 10 best and worst cities to find a job, the CareerCast.com/JobSerf Employment Index's findings can be found in our detailed scoring pages:
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