April 2023: Annual Metro Job Growth (Latest numbers from BLS) (job market, severance)

[Duderino]

Don't think this data has been shared recently. It's continually interesting to see how metro areas are performing in this still-awkward post-pandemic economic environment, now with the fun added layer of a maybe/maybe-not recession.

Here are the Top 30 metro areas by rank of total annual job growth as of April. Not surprisingly, growth seems to be moderating everywhere. The Sun Belt continues to do best generally, but even there growth appears to be cooling a little. Denver is a surprise!

April 2023: Top 30 Metro Areas by Annual Numerical Job Growth, In Thousands (Percent)

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA..................213.6 (2.3%)
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX.............................179 (4.4%)
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA....................148 (2.4%)
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX.................112.6 (3.5%)
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD .....81.9 (2.7%)
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL.............78.2 (2.8%)
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI.........................77.1 (1.7%)
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA....................76.8 (2.6%)
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA................................71.4 (3.4%)
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH........................71.2 (2.6%)

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL......................57.1 (3.9%)
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL.............................55.5 (4%)
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV......55.4 (1.7%)
San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA.......................52.2 (2.1%)
Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX........................51.1 (4.1%)
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX..............................46.9 (4.2%)
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ...................................46.5 (2%)
Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV.........................45.7 (4.3%)
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA.......................43.4 (2.8%)
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC........................35.6 (2.7%)

Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN............................................32.9 (2.9%)
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA......................32 (2.6%)
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA...........................27.9 (2.6%)
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI...............26.1 (1.4%)
Pittsburgh, PA................................................ .....24.2 (2.1%)
St. Louis, MO-IL ..................................................19.8 (1.4%)
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD............................18.3 (1.3%)
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI.................................13.9 (0.7%)
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA.....................12.1 (0.7%)
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO................................(-3.9)(-0.2%)

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.t03.htm

[mike0421]

I guess a takeaway with this one is Vegas being a big time tourism destination, post-pandemic, with life returning to normal, travel and recreation is resuming and folks just want to go out and have a good time?

[mhays25]

Looking at multiple BLS tables, the Seattle metro workforce fell by 22,003 from March to April, even while jobs grew by 6,400 for the month. This can't all be laid off tech people taking sabbaticals to dream up new companies. I don't think Fort Lewis lost a division, and I believe the Nimitz carrier group was already deployed. April isn't usually a down month.

Is the data glitchy? Did they change their methods? Any ideas?

[atadytic19]

What's going on with Denver?

Also, this was a strong showing for Philadelphia.

[Thealpinist]

Originally Posted by mhays25

Looking at multiple BLS tables, the Seattle metro workforce fell by 22,003 from March to April, even while jobs grew by 6,400 for the month. This can't all be laid off tech people taking sabbaticals to dream up new companies. I don't think Fort Lewis lost a division, and I believe the Nimitz carrier group was already deployed. April isn't usually a down month.

Is the data glitchy? Did they change their methods? Any ideas?

Thousands of tech workers were laid off in the past year.

[mhays25]

"Workforce" includes laid-off people, as long as they're still in the job market.

[btownboss4]

Originally Posted by mhays25

"Workforce" includes laid-off people, as long as they're still in the job market.

Don’t they usually do that based on filing for UI? Which I think if you take a severance package you can’t do

[nadnerb]

Originally Posted by btownboss4

Don’t they usually do that based on filing for UI? Which I think if you take a severance package you can’t do

This is correct. And a lot of the big tech companies have pretty generous severance packages, so lots of folks don’t end up needing to file for unemployment as they have plenty of time time to find another job.

[mhays25]

Interesting, news to me.

Looking further, the BLS doesn't seem to talk about severance pay, but you're not in the labor force if you are currently unavailable to work or haven't looked in four weeks.

I can see this applying to layoffs with non-compete clauses or people with enough money to take time off via severance pay or otherwise.

[Craziaskowboi]

Year-over-year job growth rates by state (April 2023)

+4.1% Nevada
+3.8% Texas
+3.5% Florida
+3.4% Washington
+3.2% Kentucky
+3.1% Idaho
+2.8% Hawaii
+2.8% Indiana
+2.6% Utah
+2.5% Arkansas

+2.5% Louisiana
+2.5% Massachusetts
+2.5% Tennessee
+2.4% Pennsylvania
+2.4% South Carolina
+2.3% Alaska
+2.3% Georgia
+2.3% New York
+2.3% North Carolina
+2.3% Oregon

+2.2% California
+2.2% Kansas
+2.1% New Hampshire
+2.1% New Mexico
+2.1% North Dakota
+2.1% Oklahoma
+2.1% Virginia
+2.1% Wyoming
+2.0% Arizona
+2.0% Delaware

+2.0% Nebraska
+2.0% New Jersey
+2.0% South Dakota
+1.9% Alabama
+1.9% Illinois
+1.9% Missouri
+1.7% Montana
+1.6% Wisconsin
+1.5% Maryland
+1.5% Minnesota

+1.4% Iowa
+1.4% Mississippi
+1.4% Ohio
+1.2% District of Columbia
+1.1% Michigan
+0.9% Connecticut
+0.9% Vermont
+0.6% Maine
+0.5% Colorado
+0.5% West Virginia

-1.0% Rhode Island