San Diego and Riverside Show Double Digit Gains in January, Says New CareerCast.com/JobSerf Employment Index

Managerial recruitment activity was off to a slow start in January, with a negligible loss of 0.1% points since last month, according to the new CareerCast.com /JobSerf Employment Index. The January 2012 Index, which measures managerial hiring activity online, fell 0.1 points from December 2012, and is 8.7 points lower than the January 2011 Index.
 
San Diego made significant progress, with a 14% increase in hiring over last month. Although Riverside, Calif., continues to languish at the bottom of the Index, it showed some momentum with an 11% increase over last month. According to Going Global, 26,600 jobs were added in San Diego County over the past 12 months with the greatest growth in educational and health services, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, trade, transportation and utilities, and financial activities.
 
“There has not been a significant improvement in hiring yet in 2012,” says Jay Martin, COO, JobSerf. “And managerial recruitment activity remained close to 2007 levels for much of last year.”
 
The cities with the most per capita hiring gains in 2011 included: Nashville (+19 points), Memphis (+13 points) and Houston (+10). The biggest losers in 2011 were San Diego (-11), Washington, DC (-8), New York City (-7) and Milwaukee (-7).
 
“We expect the job market in 2012 to remain very competitive for job seekers,” says Tony Lee, publisher, CareerCast.com.  “Job hunters should determine which positions are the hardest for employers to fill, then learn new skills, if necessary, to qualify for those jobs.  Many companies are waiting for the economy to improve before ramping up new initiatives.”
 
The CareerCast.com <http://www.careercast.com/> /JobSerf Employment Index per capita hiring levels for U.S. cities in January are:
 
1.             Washington, D.C. – 143
2.             Boston – 129
3.             San Francisco – 111
4.             Seattle – 101
5.             Baltimore – 83
6.             Atlanta – 83
7.             Chicago – 71
8.             Denver – 69
9.             Nashville - 66
10.          New York City – 65
11.          Dallas - 63
12.          Cleveland – 58
13.          Hartford – 58
14.          Philadelphia – 58
15.          Houston – 56
16.          Minneapolis - 55
17.          Pittsburgh – 55
18.          San Diego – 50
19.          Indianapolis - 49
20.          Milwaukee – 48
21.          St. Louis - 46
22.          Los Angeles – 45
23.          Phoenix – 45
24.          Cincinnati – 45
25.          Louisville - 43
26.          Tampa – 42
27.          Miami – 40
28.          Detroit - 36
29.          Memphis - 32
30.          Riverside – 21
 
The CareerCast.com/JobSerf Employment Index is an exclusive barometer showing managerial hiring activity based on the number of jobs posted online nationally. The Index reveals the differences in job listings by month, and offers valuable trends and forecasts using proprietary employment data hand-counted by a team of researchers.
 
To read the full report and get more information on the best and worst cities to find a job, visit www.careercast.com/career-guidance/employment-trends