Of the 408 metropolitan areas tracked by the BLS, 27 grew faster than the available workforce during the recessions of 1990 and 2001, and in 2007. These 27 areas are most likely to be recession-proof in the future.
A area was considered "recession-proof" if and only if employment grew more than 1.2% in each of the three 12-month time periods shown below.
| State |
Metropolitan Area |
1990 |
2001 |
2007 |
| Arizona |
Prescott |
7.7% |
3.0% |
1.8% |
| Arkansas |
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers |
3.6% |
3.4% |
2.4% |
| California |
Bakersfield |
4.5% |
1.3% |
2.3% |
| California |
Chico |
3.9% |
1.6% |
1.9% |
| California |
El Centro |
4.3% |
5.2% |
4.2% |
| California |
Madera |
11.0% |
3.0% |
1.9% |
| California |
Redding |
4.7% |
1.7% |
1.7% |
| Colorado |
Grand Junction |
2.3% |
2.8% |
4.9% |
| Georgia |
Valdosta |
1.9% |
3.4% |
1.6% |
| Idaho |
Coeur d'Alene |
8.7% |
3.4% |
3.9% |
| Louisiana |
Alexandria |
2.2% |
1.4% |
1.2% |
| Louisiana |
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux |
2.2% |
1.4% |
2.9% |
| Louisiana |
Lake Charles |
2.7% |
1.3% |
2.2% |
| Montana |
Billings |
2.5% |
3.7% |
6.2% |
| New Mexico |
Farmington |
3.9% |
2.7% |
1.7% |
| Oregon |
Bend |
3.0% |
1.4% |
2.4% |
| Pennsylvania |
State College |
2.9% |
1.5% |
1.3% |
| Texas |
Brownsville-Harlingen |
2.3% |
1.3% |
2.6% |
| Texas |
Laredo |
7.9% |
3.9% |
2.0% |
| Texas |
Odessa |
4.5% |
1.4% |
1.5% |
| Texas |
Tyler |
1.9% |
1.7% |
2.7% |
| Utah |
St. George |
11.8% |
4.7% |
3.6% |
| Washington |
Bellingham |
1.4% |
1.7% |
3.3% |
| Washington |
Kennewick-Richland-Pasco |
2.0% |
3.4% |
4.0% |
| Washington |
Olympia |
3.8% |
1.4% |
2.9% |
| West Virginia |
Morgantown |
2.6% |
1.6% |
1.4% |
| Wyoming |
Casper |
2.1% |
2.8% |
2.3% |
|
Note: The exact 12-month time periods used for these calculations were 07/90-07/91, 02/01-02/02 and 12/06-12/07. Details and updates are available on the Targeting page of JobBait.com.
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