Employment projections released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in February expect total U.S. employment will rise 14.3 percent in this decade. Construction jobs, however, are not expected to recover their pre-2007 levels by 2020.
Regions expected to experience the greatest job growth in the decade are spread throughout the country. Some of the hottest areas of growth include the Phoenix-Las Vegas region; California’s Central Valley; the Denver and Colorado Springs, Colo., areas; the San Antonio-Dallas corridor; and Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.; Bethesda, Md.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; and New York City ranked No. 1 through No. 4, respectively, in the top 10 U.S. metros (out of the 100 largest U.S. metros) for projected job growth in the decade, according to the BLS.
The top 10 metros with the greatest BLS-projected job growth through 2020 (among the 100 largest U.S. metros) are:
1. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va.
2. Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick, Md.
3. Colorado Springs, Colo.
4. New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J.
5. El Paso, Texas
6. Springfield, Mass.
7. Baton Rouge, La.
8. Tacoma, Wash.
9. Baltimore-Towson, Md.
10. San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas
Notably, Los Angeles ranks near the top of the U.S. metros BLS projects to have the slowest job growth. This dire outlook for the City of Angels stems from a BLS-expected decline in apparel manufacturing and a slight decline in movie industry employment, according to Trulia‘s chief economist, Jed Kolko.
The top 10 metros (No. 1 representing the slowest growth) with BLS-projected slowest job growth through 2020 (among the 100 largest U.S. metros) are:
1. Greensboro-High Point, N.C.
2. Gary, Ind.
3. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif.
4. Grand Rapids-Wyoming, Mich.
5. Columbia, S.C.
6. Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich.
7. Cincinnati-Middletown, Ohio-Kent.-Ind.
8. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis.
9. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif.
10. Salt Lake City, Utah
