which has better economy (jobs..), Seattle or Twin Cities (live)

[gearedtowardssalad]

Originally Posted by audadvnc

The Dakotas have been losing population for decades due to lack of work. Most people in ND that became unemployed, left long ago.

This is a complete lie. Why would you post this?

[audadvnc]

This is a complete lie. Why would you post this?

No lie was intended. I didn't realize that N Dakota has had a recent population surge - until I looked it up, just now. But, according to Wikipedia, ND population peaked over 80 years ago, and half of the last several decades show population loss:

"From 1923 through the beginning of the 21st century, North Dakota experienced a virtually constant decline in population, particularly among younger people with university degrees.[31] One of the major causes of emigration in North Dakota results from a lack of skilled jobs for graduates. Some propose the expansion of economic development programs to create skilled and high-tech jobs, but the effectiveness of such programs has been open to debate.[32] During the first decade of the 21st century, the population increased, in large part because of jobs in the oil industry."

1870 2,405
1880 36,909 1,434.7%
1890 190,983 417.4%
1900 319,146 67.1%
1910 577,056 80.8%
1920 646,872 12.1%
1930 680,845 5.3%
1940 641,935 −5.7%
1950 619,636 −3.5%
1960 632,446 2.1%
1970 617,761 −2.3%
1980 652,717 5.7%
1990 638,800 −2.1%
2000 642,200 0.5%
2010 672,591 4.7%

[sendij1]

if the above is true, ND pop 1920 is equal to ND pop 2010. That is not good.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by sendij1

if the above is true, ND pop 1920 is equal to ND pop 2010. That is not good.

Why is it bad? A stable population has advantages ... just ask some of the poorer areas of the world that are having population explosions.

[sendij1]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Why is it bad? A stable population has advantages ... just ask some of the poorer areas of the world that are having population explosions.

because 1920 is a really long time ago. I would be interested in comparing growth of other states in such a long time (almost a century).

[That's my question]

There are tons of jobs in North Dakota a typical person with a High School Diploma would go after, but there are fewer executive job openings but when there is there are far less applicants than in Seattle.

[dancho]

Originally Posted by sendij1

Please let me know trying to decide where to move.

When I read this I thought "you've got to be kidding" but then I realized that most people just don't know. The Twin Cities tend to have a stronger economy than the rest of the country. Unemployment may be bad here, but it's WORSE everywhere else. Seattle, on the other hand, has horrible unemployment even during boom times! If you want a job, move to the Twin Cities and forget Seattle. I know. I've lived in both places, and I've looked for work in both. Seattle is beautiful and has better weather than Minnesota. It also has a lot of people living in the street. The weird thing is that a lot of people do make a lot of money in Seattle, but if you belong to that group (mostly Microsoft employees) then you don't need any advice from me, eh?

[FamousBlueRaincoat]

Originally Posted by dancho

When I read this I thought "you've got to be kidding" but then I realized that most people just don't know. The Twin Cities tend to have a stronger economy than the rest of the country. Unemployment may be bad here, but it's WORSE everywhere else. Seattle, on the other hand, has horrible unemployment even during boom times! If you want a job, move to the Twin Cities and forget Seattle. I know. I've lived in both places, and I've looked for work in both. Seattle is beautiful and has better weather than Minnesota. It also has a lot of people living in the street. The weird thing is that a lot of people do make a lot of money in Seattle, but if you belong to that group (mostly Microsoft employees) then you don't need any advice from me, eh?

I think it's a pretty legitimate question. I've never been to Seattle, but it seems to be a pretty popular place to live, with people who could choose to live elsewhere if they wanted to, just like Minneapolis is. Seattle's unemployment rate is right around the average for the the US, between 9 and 10 percent. Minneapolis is lower, between 6 and 7 percent (those are November numbers). It's significant, but it's not like the Great Depression is going on in Seattle. Speaking extremely theoretically, 3% of workers are better off in Minneapolis. There are a bunch of nice cities with lower unemployment than the Twin Cities too. Really, the problem with the question is that people from Minneapolis are going to tell the poster to move to Minneapolis, and people from Seattle are going to sell Seattle, assuming it's posted in that forum too.

It also doesn't help everyone. After graduating from college, I applied for a million jobs in Minneapolis before I headed back to food service, which was fine, except for massive student loan debt. I could have just skipped college and done food service and been better off. After a while I eventually was hired doing some pretty menial clerical work, but I have really cheap tastes, so all was fine. My wife, despite also being a college graduate, never got out of food service, despite applying for a million jobs. She found a job making more money here in Philadelphia within a couple of weeks of living here. I'm still not working, but I haven't really even been trying, since we saved up a lot before we moved. Just applying for the rare job that's perfect and stuff. But, point is, we're doing better than we did in Minneapolis, despite Philly having an unemployment rate similar to Seattle. Believe it or not, I actually think we're better off here, because in Minneapolis 50% of people are college graduates or something...and here that number is somewhere around 15%. Probably only 70% of people are even high school graduates. Which sets us up real nice for jobs just by virtue of having the degree, and not all the above and beyond stuff like "making connections" (no thanks), doing unpaid internships (Sorry...I was working for money to live), and whatever else all of these smiley young urban professionals did to get their jobs. Plus, we just need jobs. We don't need "careers". Minneapolis has Target and Best Buy Headquarters and whatever else. But a lot of people aren't really looking for that, or aren't what those companies are looking for. We're happy with rent, groceries, and going to a sandwich shop once every week or two...you can pretty much support that lifestyle anywhere in America, which really makes the Minneapolis vs. anywhere debate that much more equal for a huge chunk of the people.

So yeah, the Twin Cities obviously has a good economy, which is really good for the Twin Cities for probably hundreds of reasons. I'm not trying to say that it's not. It's also good for those professionals who don't have a home, but move all over the place for their career. But it's not necessarily good for every individual person. OP, unless they have some money saved up, should probably not just move to Minneapolis with hopes that all will work out. Because anything can really happen anywhere.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

It's not good for every individual person and reason, but it's better overall than most places. I originally moved back here from Columbus, OH (even though my wife lived there -- girlfriend at the time) because the job market there was so much worse than here, and the variety was rather limited. You can say what you want about Target, Best Buy or 3M, but the employment market here is about as diverse as it gets and just about ANY professional should have little problem finding a decent job opportunity here. Some professions are tighter than others, but it's pretty widely varied and that's a major plus if you're unemployed.

[jaijj1b]

Originally Posted by Min-Chi-Cbus

It's not good for every individual person and reason, but it's better overall than most places. I originally moved back here from Columbus, OH (even though my wife lived there -- girlfriend at the time) because the job market there was so much worse than here, and the variety was rather limited. You can say what you want about Target, Best Buy or 3M, but the employment market here is about as diverse as it gets and just about ANY professional should have little problem finding a decent job opportunity here. Some professions are tighter than others, but it's pretty widely varied and that's a major plus if you're unemployed.

columbus has great economy. the only city in OH I would live in.