The Cities that Lost the Most Jobs
5. Vancouver, Washington
> Employed pct. decrease: 2.21%
> Total employed decrease: 1,643
> Workforce: 79,958
> Unemployment rate: 9.2%
Between November 2010 and October 2011, the Vancouver, Wash., area lost 1,643 jobs, a 2.21% decrease. Surprisingly, despite the substantial loss in jobs, the actual unemployment rate has dropped dramatically. This is due to a major decrease in the size of the labor force, or employable people who are in the area and are looking for jobs.
4. Tacoma, Washington
> Employed pct. decrease: 2.28%
> Total employed decrease: 2
,080
> Workforce: 98,486
> Unemployment rate: 9.7%
Tacoma, which is located approximately 30 miles from downtown Seattle, has had its unemployment rate jump slightly from last year. The city lost more than 2,000 jobs between last November and this October. That loss is the ninth-worst in the country and not indicative of the overall declining unemployment in the state. In some parts of Washington, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Boeing (NYSE: BA), two of the largest employers in the state, have been hiring. Tacoma, however, did not benefit from this growth. Even as the holiday season approaches, the city is considering cutting hundreds of positions among police, firefighters and other public servants.
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3. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
> Employed pct. decrease: 2.43%
> Total employed decrease: 2,435
> Workforce: 106,391
> Unemployment rate: 8.2%
Unemployment in Baton Rouge is up slightly, as the city lost more than 2,400 jobs over the course of the last year. The city has an unemployment rate of 8.2%, higher than Louisiana’s rate of 7%. According to the Associated Press, a portion of the losses have been in the goods-providing sector. But the largest portion, roughly 1,000 positions, have been in the service-providing sector. In an otherwise successful year for the state of Louisiana, Baton Rouge was the only major city to lose jobs over the course of the last year.
2. Spokane, Washington
> Employed pct. decrease: 3.61%
> Total employed decrease: 3,437
> Workforce: 100,317
> Unemployment rate: 8.6%
Spokane is the third city on our list from Washington. This goes to show that, to a certain extent, statewide problems are affecting these local economies. While unemployment in nearly every state in the country declined over the past six measurable months, Washington state had a much smaller decrease than other states, including neighboring California and Oregon. Spokane lost 3,437 jobs last year — the third biggest loss of the 250 largest cities in the U.S. Spokane’s unemployment actually dropped 0.5 percentage points despite the job losses. There have been a series of job losses, including the dismissal of hundreds of census workers, and the firing of 1,000 leisure and hospitality workers in April alone.
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1. Abilene, Texas
> Employed pct. decrease: 5.62%
> Total employed decrease: 3,111
> Workforce: 56,106
> Unemployment rate: 6.9%
Unemployment in Abilene was 6.9% in October, well below the Texas average of 8.4%, as well as the national average of 9%. The city is, however, doing substantially worse than it was 12 months prior. Unemployment is up from 6.7%, and the city has lost 3,111 jobs, the fourth-most loss over that period among the 250 largest cities in the U.S. In May, a cooling tower manufacturing plant owned by Broadwind (NASDAQ: BWEN) laid off dozens of employees. In March, 178 local teachers were fired. These small layoffs and a multitude of others like them have brought unemployment in the state closer to the Texas average.
-Michael B. Sauter, Ashley C. Allen
