Posted on 05/12/2009 2:30:54 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Few places have received more accolades in recent years than Austin, the city that ranked first on our list of the best big cities for jobs. Understanding what makes this attractive, fast-growing city tick can tell us much about what urban growth will look like in the coming decades.
Austin's success is not surprising since, in many ways, it starts on third base. Two of its greatest assets result from the luck of the draw; it's both a state capital and home to a major research university.
Our ranking of the best cities for job growth includes many college towns--from Fargo, N.D., (home to North Dakota State) to Athens, Ga., (University of Georgia), Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C., (Duke and University of North Carolina) and College Station, Texas (Texas A&M).
Being a state capital also helps. Baton Rouge, La., home to both state government and Louisiana State University, ranked seventh on our list of the best medium-sized cities for employment. This confluence of institutions also accounts in large part for the relatively decent rankings of two Midwestern cities, Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio, in spite of the generally sad situation in that region.
That's because colleges and state governments offer stable employment--since they cannot or will not outsource jobs to India or China. These places also tend to be inhabited by reasonably well-educated people whose stable incomes makes them less vulnerable to contractions in competitive industries like finance, manufacturing, construction or information.
"We're pretty close to recession-proof," suggest Chris Bradford, a local attorney and blogger in Austin. "It's almost anti-cyclical. In bad times, the students want to stay here."
There is a third factor, however, that adds to Austin's special sauce: the fact that it is located in Texas, the one fast-growing mega-state. With low taxes and low regulation at the state level,
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
BEST BIG CITIES FOR JOBS :
http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/13/best-big-cities-jobs-opinions-columnists-employment_slide.html
College towns always hold up due to govt spending. Oxford in the UK has about 64% of the population working for the state (govt). forbes is sounding more socialist by the day.
I vote all the time, to keep Austin weird...
Having no state income tax helps, too.
Of course state capitals do well economically. They are recession proof and tend to suck up all the money from the rest of the state, just like DC is recession proof and sucks up all the money from the rest of the country.
Well speaking of the devil, I applied for a job in Austin. We’ll have to see how that goes.
Bingo!
I work and live in the Austin area. I don't see any slow down in growth, but more cars on the road, and more businesses and strip malls opening.
My studies indicate a clear correlation between economic opportunity and the availability of good Tex-Mex and Barbecue. A cold, crisp Live Oak IPA is another contributor, according to my studies. I hope to perform more studies soon!
Then there’s people like me, out in the proverbial sticks, that wish Austin would pack up and leave the state.
spreading the myth that having a college educated “creative class” is the path to economic prosperity. Austin just leaks money like every other state capital.
Same here. Austin TX is on my short list to move also, along with Tulsa OK and Shreveport LA. Wisconsin is diving deep into the dumpster and not even my beloved Packers can prevent me from moving.
College towns have a huge cache of untaxed 501c3 reserves in the endowment of the school.
Keep Austin weird!!!!!!!!!!
State government, state university. None of that messy, free-market, sell a product or service above its cost, type of thing. Just a long wave of taxpayer dough.
Personally, I feel stuck here in Moscow-on-the-Colorado... I mean Austin. I have been looking for work for the last year and a half, with no luck. I’m really starting to think I should have made my escape when I got laid off from my last job and had the funds to move. Now... just a steady stream of “we’d love to hire you, but you’re just too overqualified for the position.”
I've heard a lot of good things about Shreveport LA. Not too familiar with Tulsa OK though so what made you pick that city on your list?
Time to write off Wisconsin as a negative loss....you guys don't even have Favre anymore.
Austin is home for me and has been for over 30 years. Quality of life was definitely better in Austin prior to 1990. The unfortunate part is that the lunatics are in charge of the asylum which is unlikely to change.
And people like me who agree with you and wish that Austin would just go somewhere else. It is a pretentious, faux-community that is overcrowded and very much over-impressed with itself. Great for someone into whole foods, designer coffee, Alda Alden types with pony tails, and Joan Baez lookalikes. If you like that sort of thing but I don’t. One thing it isn’t, is Texas.
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