Best Performing Cities for Jobs

Nov. 2003

Each year the Milken Institute, a nonprofit economic think tank, does the research to develop an index that measures where jobs are being created and which cities have economies are growing. In years past, technology centers ruled the top rankings. Lately, though, it is the areas with traditional businesses, like retail, government and health care, that have triggered improvement in jobs creation.

The Phoenix metro area, although dropping in rank from 17 to 43 among the top 200 cities in the country, still scored better than average. Tucson also made the top 200, improving from a rank of 57 last year to number 40 this year--three places better than Phoenix. In the small city category, Yuma showed up at a very impressive number 6, up from last year's ranking at number 17. Here are what the categories mean:

Overall rank - This is where that city ranked when compared to its peers. Yuma is ranked in the smaller cities category, and compared to 95 other cities. Phoenix and Tucson are ranked in the larger cities category and are each compared to 199 other cities. The size of cities was determined by population as defined by the last Census.

Job Growth - There are two rankings. One ranking the city for its growth between the five year period from 1997 to 2002, and one ranking the city for its growth in the one year period from 2001 to 2002.

Wages and Salaries Growth - There are two rankings. One is for wage/salary disbursements growth between 1996 and 2001, and the other is for wage growth from 2000 to 2001.

Short-term Job Growth - This is the amount of job growth or decline between December 2001 and December 2002.

Relative HT GDP - "HT" means high tech. There are two rankings. The first is the high tech sector growth between 1997 and 2002, and the second is the growth between 2001 and 2002.

High-Tech GDP LQ - The "LQ" means Location Quotient, which is a measure of high tech concentration. A city with an LQ higher than 1.0 is said to be more concentrated than the United States (1.0) and vice versa. 

All the averages shown are compared to the U.S. average, where the U.S. average is 100.

Here are the details of the results for the three cities in Arizona that made the survey, as provided by the Milken Institute:

Phoenix-Mesa, AZ

Overall 2003 Rank: 43

2002 Rank: 17

Job growth from 1997 to 2002:

       Score: 107.20    Rank: 24

Job growth from 2001 to 2002:

     Score: 99.92    Rank: 148

Wages & salaries growth from 1996 to 2001:

     Score: 112.36    Rank: 15

Wages & salaries growth from 2000 to 2001:

     Score: 100.45    Rank: 110

Short-term job growth:

     Growth: 0.47%    Rank: 64

Relative HT GDP from 1997 to 2002:

     Score: 99.26    Rank: 67

Relative HT GDP from 2001 to 2002:

     Score: 98.57    Rank: 136

High-Tech GDP LQ 2001:

     Score: 1.45     Rank: 22

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Tucson, AZ

Overall 2003 Rank: 40

2002 Rank: 57

Job growth from 1997 to 2002:

     Score 03.19    Rank: 62

Job growth from 2001 to 2002:

     Score: 99.91    Rank: 150

Wages & salaries growth from 1996 to 2001:

     Score: 101.01    Rank: 64

Wages & salaries growth from 2000 to 2001:

     Score: 101.98    Rank: 59

Short-term job growth:

     0.63%    Rank: 55

Relative HT GDP from 1997 to 2002:

     Score: 124.69    Rank: 14

Relative HT GDP from 2001 to 2002:

     Score: 100.65    Rank: 102

High-Tech GDP LQ 2001:

     Score: 1.44     Rank: 23

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Yuma, AZ

Overall 2003 Rank: 6

2002 Rank: 17

Job growth from 1997 to 2002:

       Score: 113.45    Rank: 1

Job growth from 2001 to 2002:

     Score: 101.80    Rank: 18

Wages & salaries growth from 1996 to 2001:

     Score: 98.15    Rank: 23

Wages & salaries growth from 2000 to 2001:

     Score: 105.05    Rank: 3

Short-term job growth:

     Growth: 3.92%    Rank: 5

Relative HT GDP from 1997 to 2002:

     Score: 81.29    Rank: 50

Relative HT GDP from 2001 to 2002:

     Score: 106.01    Rank: 28

High-Tech GDP LQ 2001:

     Score: 0.25     Rank: 57

Let's hope that the economy continues to improve, and that everyone who wants to find a good job can do so.