Where best to look for work after college

March 3, 2019. The Wall Street Journal recently published some interesting statistics and graphics, trying to identify the cities with the best -- and worst -- employment prospects. They used five metrics -- unemployment rate, wage growth, labor force growth, job growth, and labor force participation -- to capture job prospects in that city. Interesting way to look at the prospects for work in America. Austin came out near the top (see top graphic) and, sad to say, my hometown of Buffalo was at the bottom of the list (see bottom graphic).

At this stage in my career, these data and this analysis speaks more to Jane and Gaby than to me. This is not a list of the 'best cities to retire.' Most likely, the top cities on this are experiencing rapid housing costs growth and cater more to millennials than to my generation, but that is not necessarily always the case. Conditions such as tax rates, weather and healthcare options that are key to retirement can be found in some of these high job growth cities. We are doing a lot of looking before we do our leaping, and any good analysis helps.

Where the jobs are in 2019