lumaxart

Yahoo Real Estate had an article which listed the top 10 cities for job growth. Here’s the list:

1. Huntsville, Alabama
2. Albuquerque, New Mexico
3. Washington, D.C.
4. Charlottesville, Virginia
5. Athens, Georgia
6. Olympia, Washington
7. Madison, Wisconsin
8. Austin, Texas
9. Flagstaff, Arizona
10. Raleigh, North Carolina

While energy and finance drove job growth in the past, this year’s list projected growth from other avenues:

Today, many cities are relying on government programs, universities and stalwart industries, such as health care, to bolster employment in a weak economy. Those factors appeared frequently when we assembled candidates for our 2009 Best Cities list, which focuses on places that have stable employment plus the talent to create new, well-paying positions. A robust job market makes these cities safe havens during the recession and will give them a head start toward growth when the recovery takes off.

I’m not so sure that I want to hang my potential job growth on government programs.  That’s exactly what’s driving the growth in Huntsville, our nation’s missile-defense hotbed, and D.C., where the government appears to be growing by the minute.  Charlottesville is dependent upon UVA, Norfolk Naval Base, and the U.S. Army’s Intelligence Center.  The state government employs half of Olympia’s workforce.  So that’s four out of the ten that are dependent on the government in one form or another.

What about growth in private sector jobs?  The only cities that talk about private sector growth are Madison (biotech) and Athens (manufacturing).  Sorry, but I wouldn’t call it growth if it’s funded by taxpayer dollars.  I think it’s shortsighted to rely on the government for creating jobs with tax dollars.  There’s an opportunity cost to the private sector in there somewhere.

What do you think?  Do I know what I’m talking about, or am I just a windbag?  Leave a comment (If you’re signed up with CommentLuv, you’ll get a free link back to a post on your blog).

Click here for the original article: Best Cities: It’s All About Jobs

Follow me on Twitter: CorpBarbarian

Sign up for email updates: click here

 Print This Post

• 10 Jobs that Require No Bachelors Degree Attention high school grads: You don't have to rack up a mountain of student loan debt in order to secure a good career.  And you don't have to go to the School of Hard Knocks, either.  A recent Yahoo! Hot Jobs article listed ten jobs that require no bachelor's......
• Seek Discomfort Photo by colinedwards99 There are always two choices, two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it's easy. - Unknown Just about every piece of advice tries to make your workday less stressful.  To-do lists help us rank our tasks in order of importance. ......
• Success is Boring Strevo (back in a while) Earlier this season, William Peterson, Grissom on CSI,  one of the top-rated shows on TV, walked away from the role that put him on the map.  The reason that he gave was that he wanted to do something different.  Like theater.  Many people thought......

• For Some Jobs, this May be as Good as it Gets Have you ever asked yourself: Is this as good as it gets? If not, maybe you should start thinking about that question now. Some pundits are already calling the the beginning of the end of the recession, including exhortations to aggressively buy into to the current (sort-of) rally in market.......
• San Diego Golf Academy -- Go to Golf College For a Golf Career  If the sport of golf is your passion in life, you need to consider attending the San Diego Golf Academy.  Through programs of study at the San Diego Golf Academy (SDGA), you will gain both practical experience and a thorough understanding of the golf business.  Graduates of SDGA can turn......
• The Weakening Dollar - II Now we've seen some reasons for the Dollar's continued weakening, how do we profit from this knowledge? Here's a compendium of worthwhile investments that I've been researching. Invest in foreign currencies and foreign bonds If your bank allows you to make foreign currency deposits, that may be the simplest solution.......