Filed under: Personal Finance, Careers, News, The Economy, Lynnette Khalfani-Cox
Black History Month is a great time for African-Americans to reflect on a number of major issues of concern to our community. One of those issues is jobs. Even though the national jobless rate just dropped sharply to 9% for January 2011, the rate of unemployment among African-Americans remains stuck at a persistently high level: 15.7%. We can blame politicians, employers, outsourcing of jobs, or anything else that comes to mind. Or we can start to take action and empower ourselves by focusing on the things that are within our control.
And when it comes to employment, there is one thing you can consider doing to improve your own personal circumstances. What's that one thing? It's going where the jobs are.
The New York Times recently ran a very interesting piece entitled, 'A Sign of Hope for More Hiring'. Essentially, the article takes a look at job postings on the Internet to examine whether or not businesses are picking up hiring and boosting payrolls. I know a lot of you feel like that virtually no one is hiring. But indeed, there are certain industries where we are seeing quite a big surge in "help wanted" notices.
Here's where hiring is taking place: It's everything from retail and transportation to administrative work to occupational categories like lawyers and legal support workers. Health care also has been a really strong area in recent months for those who are looking for jobs.
Having said that, though, it's not only important to know what industries are hiring, it's also important to know where the jobs are -- geographically speaking. And this is where I think most people should really think about their own employment prospects and whether or not they're willing to move in order to get a job.
If you're out there looking, it might seem like there are 50 or 100 people, perhaps 200 applicants or more, for every one job opening that's available. Actually, the statistics are a little better than that. In fact, according to the job search engine company Simply Hired, in some areas of the country, the ratio is 1-to-1, meaning that there's one unemployed person for every one job opening.
Where is it that there is such a low ratio? These are the areas where you have a much better chance to find a job -- cities including:
-Washington DC
-West Palm Beach, Florida
-Baltimore, Maryland
-Boston, Massachusetts
-Milwaukee, Wisconsin
-Minneapolis, Minnesota
-Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
-Denver, Colorado; and
-The San Francisco Bay area in California
As I looked over the list, I couldn't help but notice that only two of these cities -- Washington, DC and Baltimore -- have large black populations. The rest of the cities aren't exactly known for having a sizable number of African Americans (with perhaps the exception of San Francisco Bay area, if you include Oakland in that region).
Obviously, that's not to suggest that African Americans don't live in places like West Palm Beach or Denver. I'm only saying that blacks aren't very highly concentrated there -- even though these are cities where the jobs are that many African Americans so desperately need.
Again, these are areas in which there is a 1-to-1 ratio of unemployed people to job openings. So if you had been thinking about relocating, or perhaps trying to find a job elsewhere, and packing up your bags and moving from where you are currently residing, those cities probably hold out some pretty good options for you.
Now, if you're in any of the following areas, unfortunately, these places by contrast have a higher percentage of folks who are unemployed, and a higher ratio of unemployed people to job openings:
-In Miami and the Fort Lauderdale area, there is a 5-to-1 ratio. In other words, there are five unemployed people seeking out every single job opening that's available.
-In Detroit, Sacramento and Los Angeles, the ratio there is 4-to-1, in terms of unemployed people versus the job openings.
I think this is an interesting factor to explore, because a lot of people who are struggling live in areas where the jobs simply have gone away and probably aren't coming back. That's certainly true of certain manufacturing jobs that have disappeared from cities like Detroit, which also has a big black population. So, if you want to get back on your feet you might need to get stepping -- as in high-tailing it to a new city.
Simply put: If you want your financial afterlife to look better than it does today -- after downsizing, after a business failure, after bankruptcy, after debt, after foreclosure, after divorce, or after any kind of financial calamity you might have experienced -- then it's imperative to think about where you're going to live and where you're going to work.
Moving for better job prospects and a better life is nothing new for black people. Our ancestors migrated in droves, whether it was heading out of the South and into the North for better social and economic opportunities; or, more recently, taking part in the New Great Migration back to the South to seek greener pastures in cities like Atlanta.
I recognize that not everyone is in a position to simply uproot him or herself and move to a new city. Family obligations may prevent such a move. Some people may need to upgrade their skills or education. And others may not even have the money to initiate a move. Still, the cities and the industries that I've cited above with greater employment prospects may give those who are unemployed some insights and options to consider -- and ultimately, some hope for the future too.
Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, an award-winning financial news journalist and former Wall Street Journal reporter for CNBC, has been featured in the Washington Post, USA Today, and the New York Times, as well as magazines ranging from Essence and Redbook to Black Enterprise and Smart Money. Check out her New York Times best seller 'Zero Debt: The Ultimate Guide to Financial Freedom.'