Hometown Glory
Economic upswing? Forbes ranks Austin's growth (and things are looking good)
When it comes to finding the best place to get hired, unemployment figures don't tell the whole story — at least according to Forbes.
The business magazine used figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to look at what cities can boast short-, medium- and long-term economic growth as well as positive momentum when it comes to job creation, then ranked each city by size. It should come as no surprise to Texans that metropolitan areas in the Lone Star State dominate the top of the big cities list, with Austin coming in at No. 5.
The Capitol City (well, technically Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos) ranked first in 2011 and fifth for 2012 with 2.2 year-over-year non-farm growth.
The Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area ranked at No. 8,with 3.3 percent year-on-year employment growth (despite the fact that it's job numbers ranked it third in 2011 and eighth overall for 2012). Fort Worth-Arlington took the No. 4 spot followed by Dallas-Plano-Irving at No. 6.
"Instead of government, the big drivers of growth now appear to be three basic sectors: energy, technology and, most welcome all, manufacturing," writes Forbes' Joel Kotkin.
But while the ranking notes that Texas has added 200,000 oil and gas jobs over the past 10 years, the strong economic numbers also show growth in the technology, services and industrial sectors.
Need proof that Texas' dominance isn't just about oil and gas? Forbes also released a ranking this week of the top cities for green job growth, which Houston and Dallas both appear on, and Austin's own ACC is introducing initiatives to expand growth in the city's green energy job market.