Southern Metros Fare Well in Slowing Job Market

The New York-White Plains metro led the country with an increase of 101,000 jobs for the year ended in October, the only metro with more than 100,000 jobs added. Houston was second with 60,200 new jobs and Dallas with 58,300 new jobs. Newcomers Washington, D.C., and Charlotte added 32,900 and 29,300, respectively.

Markets 11 through 20 saw total job gains drop 13.3% from their annual sum in September, providing further evidence of a cooling jobs market, the report said. Thirteen of RealPage’s top 150 markets reported annual job losses or no gain for the year, which was two more than last month. Major markets reporting annual job losses include Seattle, which was affected by the Boeing strike, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Milwaukee and Portland, Oregon.

Similar to job gains, the annual percentage change in employment continued to slow in October. None of the top 10 metros had job growth of more than 4%.

The top market for job growth change was Stockton-Lodi, California, with 3.9% increase in jobs. Boise City, Idaho, was second at 3.8% and Charleston-North Charleston, South Carolina in third at 3.4%. College Station, Texas; Lincoln, Nebraska; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Lansing-East Lansing, Michigan; Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, Florida; Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pennsylvania/New Jersey; and Macon-Warner Robins, Georgia were the remaining top 10 metros for job growth.

Three Florida markets dropped off the top job growth list – Naples, Tallahassee and Gainesville – due to Hurricane disruptions, and Asheville, North Carolina, recorded a 3% decline in employment, likely due to major flooding. Akron, Des Moines, and Columbus and Dayton, Ohio, had declining employment through October, according to the report.