Metro Jobs Data

[BrandonTO416]

Source: www.bls.gov

Population growth is directly related to job growth, so this is always a good study.

City

Year - Employment # in MSA

Buffalo MSA

April 1990 - 555,428

April 2000 - 532,811

May 2004 - 531,841

Rochester MSA

April 1990 - 532,398

April 2000 - 547,336

May 2004 - 537,877

Pittsburgh MSA

April 1990 - 1,048,664

April 2000 - 1,114,556

May 2004 - 1,130,134

Cleveland MSA

April 1990 - 1,024,864

April 2000 - 1,057,451

May 2004 - 1,050,502

[BrandonTO416]

The most interesting case study would be Pittsburgh. It had an actual net job gain from 1990-2000 with 60,000 more jobs at the end of the decade then at the begining - yet the MSA still lost some 30,000 people.

Pittsburgh is definately an anamoly.

The other numbers are more or less typical.

[urbanguy]

^Your going by workforce numbers right?

Honolulu MSA

April 1990: 405,394 w/2.4% unemployed

April 2000: 427,756 w/3.8% unemployed

May 2004: 443,113 w/ 2.6% unemployed

The economy has been recovering, expanding, and improving big time over the last few years. The mid to late 90s were the worst times for the city where unemployment was as high as 5.9% its also when many people moved away cause the economy was so bad, now its a reversal we are seeing a brain gain.

[BigCityAttitude]

Some unemployment rates I can't believe.. Oregon for example, is I think 8.6%. (It's 8.something, I know that)

[BrandonTO416]

That's low. I think Yuma, AZ has something like a 20% unemployment rate.

Oh, and Portland, Oregon's unemployment rate is 6.5% as of May 2004. Its dropped since the peak last year.

[urbanguy]

^Yeah Yuma, Fresno, etc are really high with unemployment

[BigCityAttitude]

OK, so Portland's dropped, what about Oregon as a whole?

[urbanguy]

^Dropped to 6.8% Alaska has the highest now at 7.3% others over 6% include:

California: 6.2%

D.C.: 7.5% i know not a state

Illinois: 6.4%

Louisiana: 6.1%

Michigan: 6.5%

South Carolina: 6.3%

Washington: 6.1%

Just under 6% at 5.8%-5.9%

Alabama

Arkansas

New York

Texas

So when you look at the big picture there are many right up there with Oregon

[BrandonTO416]

^Your going by workforce numbers right?

Honolulu MSA

April 1990: 405,394 w/2.4% unemployed

April 2000: 427,756 w/3.8% unemployed

May 2004: 443,113 w/ 2.6% unemployed

The economy has been recovering, expanding, and improving big time over the last few years. The mid to late 90s were the worst times for the city where unemployment was as high as 5.9% its also when many people moved away cause the economy was so bad, now its a reversal we are seeing a brain gain.

Actually I was going by employment numbers alone, not overall labor force. But the difference is only the unemployment rate.

Remind you these unemployment stats don't take into account the underemployed - people who have no job and aren't "in the system" looking for a new job. They may be looking for a job, but have not filed a claim with the gov't.

[urbanguy]

^I hear ya

Honolulu redone *The employed workforce in the MSA

April 1990: 395,575

April 2000: 411,344

April 2004: 429,343

May 2004: 431,702

[DBR96]

The most interesting case study would be Pittsburgh. It had an actual net job gain from 1990-2000 with 60,000 more jobs at the end of the decade then at the begining - yet the MSA still lost some 30,000 people.

Pittsburgh is definately an anamoly.

The other numbers are more or less typical.

The death rate in Pittsburgh is higher than the birth rate. Many people of child-bearing age left the Pittsburgh region in the 1980s and early 1990s due to the collapse of the steel industry (and the resulting jobs vacuum), which resulted in the birth rate plummeting dramatically. So even though 68,000 jobs were added in the 1990s, the metro population still went down.

Something else I noticed is how Pittsburgh saw a net gain in jobs between 2000 and 2004, which stands in stark contrast to the other three metro areas noted, as well as many other metro areas in the U.S. It weathered the 2001-02 recession pretty well, so hopefully that's something the Pittsburgh region can build momentum from as the economy recovers.