We're in the midst of a worldwide recession, but some cities are faring better than others. MoneyWatch.com crunches the employment numbers and speaks to labor market expert and Haas School of Business professor David Levine to help uncover the cities where finding work may be less of a struggle.
>> Sumi Das: Why mince words? Today's job market is miserable and every month, the number of out-of-work Americans grows. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has said the unemployment rate will keep climbing until 2010. So perhaps you've decided to pull up states and move to where the money is. Well, there is no magic pot of gold but some places are background music enduring the downturn better than others. Based on employment and wage data, we've selected job havens in three categories, large cities, small to medium cities, and international ones. The first step for job hunters is to visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics website and Moodyseconomy.com. Haas Business School Professor David Levine is a labor market expert. He suggests researching unemployment rates in the cities you're considering.
>> David Levine: Don't pay a lot of attention to monthly changes but if you see over the last year or two employment going down a lot, that's probably not as good a place to look as somewhere where employment has only gone down a little.
>> Sumi Das: Another important figure, projections on tenure job growth. Professor Levine offers a couple more.
>> David Levine: At the city-wide level, you can get data on average wages. In this recession, it's important to know the foreclosure rate. Places with a lot of foreclosures are probably not the places you wanna look for a job.
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>> Sumi Das: Using that criteria, Austin, Texas, Seattle, Washington, and Houston, Texas are the best large cities for finding work. With corporate heavyweights, Boeing, Microsoft, and Starbucks all cutting back, Seattle hasn't been immune to layoffs. Austin's tech firms are expected to take a hit too, but both cities are experiencing job creation in the areas of alternative energy and green tech.
>>David Levine: I think over the next few years there will be a growth in clean technology. So if you're a construction worker, it might be good to get very skilled to putting an insulation. If you're a financial engineer, maybe you'd starting working in carbon markets.
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>> Sumi Das: The recession has also had a smaller impact on the health care sector.
>> David Levine: It turns out unfortunately people still get sick. The good news for the employment side is they still need people to take care of them.
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>> Sumi Das: Meaning Houston will probably be hiring. Its Texas Medical Center is the largest health care facility in the world. If you'd rather live in a small to medium sized city, Washington, D.C., Fort Smith, New Hampshire, and Des Moine, Iowa are the best bets for job seekers.
>> David Levine: The federal government is growing is employment and that's good news for people who have those skills and particularly if they're located near Washington, D.C.
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>> Sumi Das: While many are scrimping, the government is spending to help fuel the economy, creating jobs in the process. The George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis forecasts the addition of 38,000 jobs in Washington, D.C. in the coming years from government employees to lawyers and IT workers. Fort Smith, New Hampshire is attracting not only former Boston residents but its small PR techs and IT consulting companies are luring work from larger firms in bigger cities. Thanks to its revamped downtown area, Des Moine, Iowa has a healthy crop of financial firms that weren't as dependent on the real estate boom. In recent years, the city has welcomed 26,000 business service jobs. Finally for the globe trotters, the best cities to work abroad are Vancouver, British Columbia, Shanghai, China, and Mumbai, India. Described by some as the Silicon Valley of Canada, Vancouver's tech sector has expanded thanks to video game and fuel cell companies. It also ranks third in movie production behind Los Angeles and New York and then there are the Asian giants, Shanghai and Mumbai.
>> David Levine: China has a very big stimulus package and the government policy really seems to be helping there. India has never been as exposed to international trade as most of Europe are, even China and the United States.
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>> Sumi Das: China's largest city has a vast number of manufacturing technology and R&D corporations. In turn, those businesses have led to job growth and advertising and web development. India's financial hub Mumbai boasts two stock exchanges and five Fortune 500 companies, not to mention Bollywood. Calling all legal professionals, financial service workers, and aspiring Indie film stars. While it's tempting to relocate to a city that appears to have better job prospects, experts say moving can be an emotional and financial strain, a decision not to be taken lightly.
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>> David Levine: You're mostly to get a job from the network you already have. But in some parts of the country, the labor market is so depressed that it's probably worth thinking about where else you would fit in.
>> Sumi Das: For moneywatch.com, I'm Sumi Das.
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