U.S. Cities With the Lowest Employment Options

Previously we brought you a list of some of the best places to find employment, but what about the worst places to find employment? No disrespect to the cities on the list, but these cities offer the worst prospects for finding a job, courtesy of Business Insider. A note to folks in the Pacific Northwest— it may be time to find a drier location.

10. Reno-Sparks, Nevada
9. Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Oregon-Washington
8. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Florida
7. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Connecticut
6. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pennsylvania
5. Youngstown, Ohio
4. Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio
3. St. Louis, Missouri
2. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, California

And the top spot in the worst cities to find employment goes to: Spokane, Washington.

So what is it that makes these cities particularly unattractive to job seekers? Well, the article focuses on expected net employment. Basically, they took the percent of employers expecting an increase of jobs and subtracted the percent of employers expected to decrease jobs and figured out the net total. None of the cities listed has a higher than 3 percent net employment outlook with Spokane expected to have 0 percent net employment.

Various factors contribute to the low employment outlooks, and regional factors dictate to an extent the variety in reasons. For instance, the middle of America has been hit harder by the decline of manufacturing, while Connecticut and New York face problems in the financial industry.

If you do live in these areas though, don’t fret. There are still plenty of opportunities to find employment—you just may need to be more creative in your job search. Explore creative options for getting yourself out there such as video resumes and online video interviews. Many of the cities listed, including New York, Spokane and Palm Bay are innovative cities with a number of different industries. Finding your niche is the key to getting noticed in cities with a low net employment.

IMAGE: Courtesy of Flickr by ClarkProductions2008