Jobs Forecast Looking Up in Tacoma?
The job market sucks right now. You won’t get much argument on that. But we read what could be a little piece of good news for the future: according to a recent article from www.theatlanticcities.com, the Tacoma area ranks eighth out of the top 100 metropolitan areas in the nation for forecasted job growth through 2020. On the list are a couple of Texas cities (including San Antonio, Texas, the most recent home of our new City Manager), and several East Coast cities, but Tacoma is the only metro area on the West Coast to make the top 10.
1. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
2. Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick, MD
3. Colorado Springs, CO
4. New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ
5. El Paso, TX
6. Springfield, MA
7. Baton Rouge, LA
8. Tacoma, WA
9. Baltimore-Towson, MD
10. San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX
The list comes from Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts based, according to the article, largely on growth forecasts for individual industries. Apparently the Tacoma area is doing something right. So, although it may not feel like it today, or possibly even this week, if this forecast turns out to be true, we may have some brighter days ahead for jobs in Tacoma. Are you a believer?
Read more on the forecast from www.theatlanticcities.com
Filed under: General
3 comments
T talus March 6, 2012
I have to say, I don’t get it. Maybe it’s due to Marty Campbell’s visionary quote reported in the Tacoma Weekly that he wants to eschew the jobs every other city wants to attract (I take that to mean fancy stuff like biotech, software, higher ed, and environmental remediation) in favor of candy manufacturing. Candy, the “plastics” of the 2010s… Maybe Marty can put that in the proper context so it doesn’t sound so odd…
Or maybe it’s our relatively cheap real estate.
A Altered-Chords March 7, 2012
I have not spent much time downtown this past year. Every time I do drive through I see evidence of growth. When you are in the midst of it, measuring the growth on a daily basis (“hmmm…that new building that is being constructed did not get taller today, I guess there is no growth”) you can’t see the progress but when you buzz through once/qtr to pick up the pants you left at Family Cleaners 3 mos. ago and forgot about, then you see all the stuff happening.
I don’t think it’s “Tacoma” doing anything right. To me “Tacoma” implies some sort of masterfully planned oversight by a committee. I think it’s obvious that the right things that are happening are not the result of grand initiatives like the “International Financial Services District”
G geargirl March 9, 2012
Winning the shipping contract at the Port o’ Tacoma should, ahem, raise the tide.