Jobs are everything to an economy. Period. Over what interval the jobs are counted, however, can change the outcome of the winners and losers. In most circumstances, economists look at the change year-over-year and also sequentially from the prior month. These two growth ranks can often be very diverse. What was hot a year ago might be cold today — and vice versa. Things change – sometimes quickly.
Naturally, long-term sustainable job growth is most preferred. To consider this, the table below includes the percentage job growth rank by MSA-Division for the past six months, one year, two years, five years and 10 years as of June 2017. Ranks were applied to each of those intervals, and the ranks were summed, then divided by five (the five time intervals). The lower the overall average rank, the better job growth performance has been for all five-time periods. Thus the index makes the latest six-month of job growth just as important as the past 10 years. The table includes the best 25 Metros based on this Job Growth Index.
So which MSA or Division topped this list in the Job Growth Index? The Lake Charles, Louisiana MSA has the lowest Average of ranks and thus becomes the top-job growth Metro under the defined Job Growth Index. The Lake Charles MSA had the best job growth of all MSAs in the nation for the past month, was second best for two-year job growth, third best for 1-year, fourth best for five years, 12th best for six months and 14th best for 10 years out of the 401 cities , and third best in the prior five years. St George, Utah came in second best overall and the Ft Collins, Colorado MSA third. Worst overall was Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana. Note the number of major college towns making the top-25.
In comparison, the following table lists the top-25 job growth markets for the 12-months ending June 2017.
Want to see these ranking for all of the 401 markets? Click on these PDFs which are sorted by state and MSA-Division.
If alternative time intervals were used would the results change? For some markets, yes, and others no. Remember, the job numbers for the past 12 months are all subject to revision, so the current rankings could change.
Just like the stock market, prior performance does not guaranty future results.
If you have any questions or thoughts, email back.
Jobs are everything. Period
Ted