Monthly Employment Watch: Milwaukee and the Nation's Largest Cities

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Monthly Employment Watch: Milwaukee and the Nation's Largest Cities A monthly report on employment trends in the nation s largest cities Prepared by: The University of

1 Monthly Employment Watch: Milwaukee and the Nation's Largest Cities A monthly report on employment trends in the nation s largest cities Prepared by: The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Economic Development November 2007 For further information contact: Professor Marc V. Levine Telephone: veblen@uwm.edu

2 About This Report Each month, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Economic Development, drawing on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, monitors employment trends in Milwaukee and the nation s 50 largest cities. In addition, the Center also compares employment trends in Milwaukee to a smaller and more directly comparable group of peer cities, the 20 largest cities of the Northeast-Midwest Frostbelt region. Each month, the data compiled by the Center display year-overyear total employment for three different time periods: a) the most recent year ( ); b) the past three years ( ), since the current mayoral administration took office; and c) since 2000, the peak of the last business cycle. By looking at three different time periods, and two different samples of cities, we hope to provide a fuller sense of how Milwaukee s employment growth stacks up against other big cities over time, and how Milwaukee s position has changed over time.

3 The Monthly Employment Watch: The most recent monthly employment data for cities () reveal that Milwaukee continues on the path of modest employment growth observed through most of In the last year the number of employed residents in the city of Milwaukee in increased by 1,013, or 0.41%. This represents a slight improvement from the year-over-year employment increase of 708 in the August employment watch, but less than the employment increase of 2,191 in July. In, Milwaukee ranked 38th among the nation s 50 largest cities in rate of employment growth over the past year (Table 1), and 9th among the nation s 20 largest Frostbelt cities (Table 4). These rankings each represent an improvement of one ranking spot from the August employment report. Since 2004, employment in Milwaukee has increased by 2,366 (0.95%), placing the city 46th among the nation s 50 largest cities (Table 2) and 13th among the 20 largest Frostbelt cities (Table 5) in the rate of employment growth during this time period. These rankings represent an improvement by one position from the rankings in August. Clearly, although employment has increased slightly in Milwaukee since 2004, the pace of growth remains much less robust here than in most big cities, both in the nation as a whole as well as in the Frostbelt. Moreover, the small recent employment increases have not compensated for the massive employment loss experienced in Milwaukee since Since 2000, Milwaukee s employment has declined by 16,071, or 6.03%. This decline places Milwaukee 46th among the nation s 50 largest cities in employment growth since 2000 (Table 3), and 18th among the 20 largest Frostbelt cities (Table 6). Those rankings remain unchanged from last month s employment watch. Finally, comparison of unemployment rates in the 50 largest cities reveals the degree to which Milwaukee remains one of the country s most distressed urban labor markets (Table 7). In 2007, Milwaukee had the 47 th highest unemployment rate among the nation s 50 largest cities, posting a preliminary rate of 7.3% (down from 8.0% in August). Only Detroit, with a depression-era unemployment rate of 14.4%, as well as Oakland and Cleveland, ranked worse. Milwaukee s posted the 49 th highest unemployment rate among the 50 largest cities in the August 2007 employment watch. Since 2000, Milwaukee s ranking on unemployment has steadily deteriorated, placing 37th among the 50 largest cities in 2000, 37 th in 2004, 45 th in 2006, and 47 th in 2007.

4 Table 1 -- Employment Growth in the 50 Largest Cities: 2006 to 2007 Rank City % change 1 Wichita 177, , % 2 Seattle 339, , % 3 Las Vegas 275, , % 4 Mesa City (AZ) 243, , % 5 Phoenix 802, , % 6 Atlanta 211, , % 7 Miami 158, , % 8 Memphis 294, , % 9 Nashville 301, , % 10 Austin 397, , % 11 Omaha 216, , % 12 Charlotte 328, , % 13 Portland 283, , % 14 Virginia Beach 218, , % 15 Tucson 252, , % 16 Los Angeles 1,787,740 1,823, % 17 Long Beach 221, , % 18 Jacksonville 394, , % 19 Denver 299, , % 20 Albuquerque 253, , % 21 Louisville 343, , % 22 Columbus 393, , % 23 San Francisco 405, , % 24 Washington, D.C. 294, , % 25 Houston 956, , % 26 Dallas 576, , % 27 Oklahoma City 251, , % 28 San Jose 414, , % 29 Sacramento 202, , % 30 Boston 272, , % 31 Oakland 179, , % 32 Philadelphia 583, , % 33 Colorado Springs 206, , % 34 Fort Worth 291, , % 35 San Antonio 587, , % 36 Chicago 1,262,911 1,268, % 37 San Diego 651, , % 38 Milwaukee 249, , % 39 El Paso 238, , % 40 New York 3,608,274 3,621, % 41 St. Louis 147, , % 42 Kansas City 221, , % 43 Fresno 210, , % 44 Minneapolis 208, , % 45 Tulsa 198, , % 46 Honolulu 439, , % 47 Cleveland 175, , % 48 Baltimore 262, , % 49 Indianapolis 413, , % 50 Detroit 318, , %

5 Table 2 - Employment Growth in the 50 Largest Cities: 2004 to 2007 Rank City % change 1 Mesa City (AZ) 222, , % 2 Phoenix 730, , % 3 Albuquerque 233, , % 4 Atlanta 196, , % 5 Miami 148, , % 6 Seattle 320, , % 7 Fort Worth 266, , % 8 Memphis 276, , % 9 Charlotte 308, , % 10 Jacksonville 370, , % 11 Wichita 171, , % 12 Nashville 288, , % 13 San Antonio 553, , % 14 Denver 285, , % 15 Tucson 241, , % 16 Colorado Springs 195, , % 17 Honolulu 414, , % 18 Las Vegas 269, , % 19 Louisville 330, , % 20 Portland 275, , % 21 Long Beach 215, , % 22 Los Angeles 1,736,262 1,823, % 23 Fresno 200, , % 24 Omaha 211, , % 25 Austin 387, , % 26 New York 3,458,920 3,621, % 27 Columbus 381, , % 28 Virginia Beach 212, , % 29 Tulsa 189, , % 30 Washington, D.C. 286, , % 31 San Jose 401, , % 32 Chicago 1,216,365 1,268, % 33 Sacramento 196, , % 34 San Francisco 396, , % 35 Baltimore 253, , % 36 Kansas City 216, , % 37 San Diego 636, , % 38 Oklahoma City 247, , % 39 Indianapolis 399, , % 40 El Paso 234, , % 41 Oakland 177, , % 42 Philadelphia 576, , % 43 Dallas 573, , % 44 Boston 271, , % 45 Houston 955, , % 46 Milwaukee 248, , % 47 Minneapolis 209, , % 48 St. Louis 147, , % 49 Cleveland 176, , % 50 Detroit 322, , %

6 Table 3 - Employment Growth in the 50 Largest Cities: 2000 to 2007 Rank City % change 1 Mesa City (AZ) 202, , % 2 Phoenix 665, , % 3 Las Vegas 234, , % 4 Fort Worth 254, , % 5 San Antonio 517, , % 6 Tucson 226, , % 7 Charlotte 296, , % 8 Sacramento 180, , % 9 Atlanta 193, , % 10 Albuquerque 230, , % 11 San Diego 585, , % 12 Virginia Beach 199, , % 13 Seattle 317, , % 14 Miami 146, , % 15 Colorado Springs 187, , % 16 El Paso 220, , % 17 Jacksonville 370, , % 18 Wichita 170, , % 19 Fresno 196, , % 20 Honolulu 411, , % 21 Omaha 208, , % 22 Houston 911, , % 23 Los Angeles 1,717,667 1,823, % 24 Long Beach 212, , % 25 New York 3,433,593 3,621, % 26 Oklahoma City 243, , % 27 Austin 389, , % 28 Columbus 383, , % 29 Memphis 291, , % 30 Washington, D.C. 291, , % 31 Nashville 300, , % 32 Denver 298, , % 33 Louisville 347, , % 34 Indianapolis 408, , % 35 Tulsa 198, , % 36 Portland 290, , % 37 Baltimore 262, , % 38 Kansas City 225, , % 39 Philadelphia 595, , % 40 Dallas 591, , % 41 Chicago 1,297,288 1,268, % 42 Oakland 186, , % 43 St. Louis 153, , % 44 Minneapolis 217, , % 45 Boston 292, , % 46 Milwaukee 266, , % 47 Cleveland 188, , % 48 San Francisco 456, , % 49 Detroit 350, , % 50 San Jose 475, , %

7 Table 4 - Employment Growth in the 20 Largest Frostbelt Cities City Rank % change 1 Wichita 177, , % 2 Omaha 216, , % 3 Columbus 393, , % 4 Washington, D.C. 294, , % 5 Boston 272, , % 6 Cincinnati % 7 Philadelphia 583, , % 8 Chicago 1,262,911 1,268, % 9 Milwaukee 249, , % 10 New York 3,608,274 3,621, % 11 Pittsburgh % 12 St. Louis 147, , % 13 Kansas City 221, , % 14 St. Paul (MN) % 15 Minneapolis 208, , % 16 Cleveland 175, , % 17 Baltimore 262, , % 18 Buffalo % 19 Indianapolis 413, , % 20 Detroit 318, , %

8 Table 5- Employment Growth in the 20 Largest Frostbelt Cities 2004 to 2007 City Rank % change 1 Wichita 171, , % 2 Omaha 211, , % 3 New York 3,458,920 3,621, % 4 Columbus 381, , % 5 Washington, D.C. 286, , % 6 Chicago 1,216,365 1,268, % 7 Baltimore 253, , % 8 Kansas City 216, , % 9 Indianapolis 399, , % 10 Philadelphia 576, , % 11 Cincinnati % 12 Boston 271, , % 13 Milwaukee 248, , % 14 Pittsburgh % 15 Minneapolis 209, , % 16 St. Louis 147, , % 17 St. Paul (MN) % 18 Buffalo % 19 Cleveland 176, , % 20 Detroit 322, , %

9 Table 6- Employment Growth in the Twenty Largest Frostbelt Cities 2000 to 2007 City Rank % change 1 Wichita 170, , % 2 Omaha 208, , % 3 New York 3,433,593 3,621, % 4 Columbus 383, , % 5 Washington, D.C. 291, , % 6 Indianapolis 408, , % 7 Baltimore 262, , % 8 Kansas City 225, , % 9 Philadelphia 595, , % 10 Pittsburgh % 11 Cincinnati % 12 Chicago 1,297,288 1,268, % 13 Buffalo % 14 St. Louis 153, , % 15 Minneapolis 217, , % 16 St. Paul (MN) % 17 Boston 292, , % 18 Milwaukee 266, , % 19 Cleveland 188, , % 20 Detroit 350, , %

10 Table 7 -- Unemployment Rates in the 50 Largest Cities Rank City Honolulu % 2 Mesa City % 3 Virginia Beach % 4 Albuquerque % 5 Omaha % 6 Phoenix % 7 Austin % 8 Nashville % 9 Seattle % 10 Tucson % 11 Jacksonville % 12 Charlotte % 13 San Antonio % 14 Colorado Springs % 15 Denver % 16 Indianapolis % 17 Tulsa % 18 Houston % 19 Miami % 20 Oklahoma City % 21 San Francisco % 22 Wichita % 23 Fort Worth % 24 Boston % 25 Dallas % 26 Portland % 27 San Diego % 28 Minneapolis % 29 Columbus % 30 New York % 31 Atlanta % 32 Las Vegas % 33 Louisville % 34 Memphis % 35 El Paso % 36 San Jose % 37 Chicago % 38 Long Beach % 39 Los Angeles % 40 Washington, D.C % 41 Baltimore % 42 Philadelphia % 43 Kansas City % 44 Sacramento % 45 Fresno % 46 St. Louis % 47 Milwaukee % 48 Oakland % 49 Cleveland % 50 Detroit %

Monthly Employment Watch: Milwaukee and the Nation's Largest Cities

Monthly Employment Watch: Milwaukee and the Nation's Largest Cities A monthly report on employment trends in the nation s largest cities Prepared by: The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Economic