Jobs are everything to an economy. Period.
Each month the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases employment data at the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and Division level in both Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rates (SAAR) and non-seasonally adjusted formats. All employment data in this discussion are from the BLS.
As I have written in the past:
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.
The following table shows the 25 MSAs and Divisions with the greatest percentage increase in 12-month job growth rates as of October 2017. As noted in previous months, there are a large number of major university towns in this list. Ditto markets with growing technology centers. There are also a few markets that are showing high job growth rates based on manufacturing (Corpus Christi, Texas and Cleveland, Tennessee, for example).
As I always say, for every winner there is a loser. The following table lists 25 MSA-Divisions with the greatest percentage decline in jobs for the 12-months ending October 2017.
The next table lists the MSAs and Division that had the greatest total number of net new jobs in the latest 12-months. There are several duplications but not for the exact same geography. For example, the number 1 ranked is Dallas-Ft Worth-Arlington MSA which includes some but not all of the number 4 Dallas-Plano-Irving Metro Division.
Following are the MSAs-Divisions that lost the largest number of jobs, but not exactly the greatest percentage of job losses in the same 12-month period.
Want to see the growth rates for all of the 401 markets? Click here for a PDF sorted by state and MSA-Division and includes the respective ranks for both percentage increase in jobs and the total number of net new jobs.
Just like the stock market, prior performance does not guaranty future results.
If you have any questions or thoughts, reply back.
Jobs are everything. Period
Ted