Do you have a sense of how easy it is to find a job in your city?
Although entrepreneurs may see themselves as outside the corporate grind, knowing the state of the local job market can be useful. ZipRecruiter released a ranking of the 10 best job markets for 2015, and this could be crucial info for hiring and planning. For example:
- In the best job markets, you have lots of competition – job seekers don’t need to accept your low-paying offer because they’ll probably be able to find something else.
- On the other hand, you can use that fact to your advantage. Tempt the talented techie to quit their corporate job, and use the low unemployment rate to convince them that they’ll be able to find another one if your startup goes under.
- And if your startup does go under, well, being in a great job market will make it easier for you to start scraping together an income to pay off all those credit card bills.
ZipRecruiter looked at the biggest 100 job markets in the US with below-average unemployment (under 5.6%), then ranked them based on three factors (the lower the better for each):
- Availability of jobs: The applicants-to-employer ratio
- Competition for jobs: The applications-to-job-posting ratio
- Unemployment rate
ZipRecruiter did separate rankings of big cities, mid-sized cities, and small cities – here are the best job markets among the big cities:
1. Minneapolis, MN
Unemployment rate: 3.3%
2. Salt Lake City, UT
Unemployment rate: 3.0%
3. Columbus, OH
Unemployment rate: 3.7%
4. Oklahoma City, OK
Unemployment rate: 3.6%
5. Cincinnati, OH
Unemployment rate: 4.1%
6. Pittsburgh, PA
Unemployment rate: 4.4%
7. Raleigh, NC
Unemployment rate: 4.2%
8. Richmond, VA
Unemployment rate: 4.7%
9. Birmingham, AL
Unemployment rate: 4.6%
10. Washington, DC
Unemployment rate: 4.5%
