2011 Employment Snapshot: Where the Jobs Are

They say everything's bigger in Texas. When it comes to jobs, that's definitely the case.

Texas has added 262,000 jobs since the recession officially ended in June 2009, approximately half of all new positions in the country, according to USA Today. The Lone Star State's job growth is due in part to a bump in population, but also to soaring energy costs that bolstered oil drilling, lack of a housing crash and a pro-business climate that's helped hiring in industries such as mining, business and professional services, education and health care, according to the report.

Texas might be the biggest, but it's not the only state or metro area with a net gain of new jobs in recent months. Some other states also have a positive employment outlook, despite a U.S. economy that stubbornly refuses to take the fast track to recovery.

Why Location Matters

If you're looking for work, it's worth taking note of where the jobs are to better target your efforts, especially if you're willing or able to move for a new position. "There are certain geographies that are highly desirable," says Daniel Greenberg, chief marketing officer at SimplyHired, an online jobs search engine.

Although the overall U.S. unemployment rate ticked up slightly in June, to 9.2 percent, the jobless rate that month in 10 states was 6 percent or less, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Those include Virginia, Iowa and Hawaii (6 percent), Wyoming (5.9 percent), Vermont (5.5 percent), Oklahoma (5.3 percent), New Hampshire (4.9 percent), South Dakota (4.8 percent), Nebraska (4.1 percent) and North Dakota (3.2 percent).

State By State

Some states that were hit hard during the recession are adding jobs at significant rates, though many have yet to reach pre-recession employment levels. As the auto industry has rebounded, it's helped Michigan's unemployment rate drop to 10.5 percent in June 2011, from 12.6 percent at the same time the previous year, according to the BLS.

Other states that have witnessed substantial dips in their unemployment rate during the past year include Nevada (-2.5 percent, to 12.4 percent), Indiana (-2 percent, to 8.3 percent) and Oklahoma (-1.7 percent, to 5.3 percent). This USA Today chart shows how many jobs each of the 50 states has added since June 2009.

 City By City

The jobs outlook is more complicated for major U.S. cities. In June, job listings dropped in 46 of 50 major metropolitan areas from the previous month, according to SimplyHired, which compiles statistics based on listings on the multiple job boards it tracks. Of the four remaining cities, three saw minimal increases in new job listings -- Louisville (1.7 percent), Birmingham (1.4 percent) and Detroit (.1 percent) -- and listings in Pittsburgh remained the same.

However, even cities where job listings dropped month-to-month had more openings in June 2011 than in June 2010. For example, job openings in Dallas/Fort Worth were up 34.4 percent from a year ago, according to SimplyHired. Openings were also up in Seattle/Tacoma (41.3 percent), Minneapolis/St. Paul (37.5 percent), Phoenix (26.9 percent), Atlanta (25.3 percent), Chicago (21.6 percent), Boston (21.3 percent), Los Angeles (18.7 percent) and San Francisco (17.5 percent).

Cities such as Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles and Sacramento have highly competitive job markets, with six or more unemployed workers for every advertised position. "Las Vegas and Miami are tourist destinations that have extreme movements," Greenberg says. "When the economy is doing well, there's incredible job growth, and when it's faltering there's very low job growth."

In other cities, though, the odds favor job hunters. Washington, D.C., for example, has a 1-to-1 ratio of people who are unemployed to job openings, according to Greenberg. Other cities with one or two job hunters for each open position include Dallas/Fort Worth, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle/Tacoma, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Austin and Albuquerque/Santa Fe, N.M. For a complete list, see SimplyHired's June employment outlook report.