Want a Job? Move to San Jose

Tired of being unemployed? Maybe you’re just not flexible enough to move to a city that has more available job listings! As Forbes puts it:

As the end of 2015 and the fourth quarter draws ever nearer, job seekers are reminded that flexibility is key, and though relocation may not be a welcome option, a new market could provide opportunities your current city is not.

Forbes then lists the best cities in which to find jobs, starting with San Jose, California:

San Jose, California, offers up the most job listings per capita, with 154 jobs advertised [on Indeed] per every 1,000 residents–up from last year when the city led the list with 123 openings.

Keeping in mind that “job listings on Indeed” is not necessarily an accurate representation of “available jobs” — as Jen Dziura reminds us, the best job opportunities are the ones that aren’t listed online — it’s worth taking a closer look at this data. Here’s what we can roughly guess:

— Forbes and Indeed identify 154 job listings per 1,000 San Jose residents.

— Using demographic data from SanJoseCa.gov, we learn that approximately 240 of those San Jose residents are under 18 and 110 are over 65, leaving 650 residents who might be in the labor force. (Not all of those 650 residents are actively in the labor force, of course, but some people over 65 might also be in the labor force, so I’m going to guesstimate that it balances out.)

— The California Employment Development Department lists San Jose’s unemployment rate at 4 percent, meaning 26 of those 650 residents could be currently unemployed.

Putting all of that data together, it suggests that San Jose has more available jobs than it has unemployed residents. Perhaps it really is the best city in which to find a job. (Never mind that unemployed people in San Jose are also competing with currently employed people for these jobs, and never mind that they might not be qualified for a large number of the available jobs. We’re looking at straight-up numbers here, people!)

If you are ready to move, be aware that last year Forbes identified San Jose as one of “America’s most overpriced cities:”

In the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA, according to NAHB figures, only 26% of homes are affordable to families bringing home the median income of $101,300. (The median home sales price was $625,000 in Q4 2013.)

Or consider relocating to one of the other cities Forbes lists as “best places to find a job:” Raleigh, North Carolina; Denver, Colorado; Washington, DC; and San Francisco, California. (San Francisco is also on the “most overpriced cities” list, to nobody’s surprise.)

If you are currently in New York — do we have any NYC Billfold readers? — you should know that Forbes thinks you are living in the worst city to find a job, with only 37 listings per 1,000 residents. I wonder if they’re including freelancers in their calculations.

Photo credit: the_tahoe_guy

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