Where the Jobs Are

More jobs were created in metropolitan areas where taxes, wages and rents are low, according to a survey by Forbes magazine. “There’s no mystery: Business creates jobs, and business goes where--other things being fairly equal--costs are low,” according to the survey, which appears in the Oct. 21 issue of the magazine. The survey compared net job growth from January 1990 to July 1996. Las Vegas, which ranked No. 1 with a 38% increase in jobs, has a cost-of-doing-business index rating of 90, 10% below the national average of 100, Forbes said. The growth and non-growth areas:

Highest Job Growth

*--*

Metro area Cost* Job growth Las Vegas 90 38% Austin-San Marcos, Texas 97 34 Boise, Idaho 89 34 Fayetteville-Rogers, Ark. 90 30 Provo-Orem, Utah 90 30 Salt Lake City 92 27 Albuquerque, N.M. 93 26 Green Bay, Wis. 96 23 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas 81 23 Elkhart-Goshen, Ind. 92 21 Fort Myers-Cape Coral, Fla. 88 21 Orlando, Fla. 93 21 Raleigh-Durham, N.C. 96 21 Reno 93 21 San Antonio 92 21 Springfield, Mo. 89 21 Portland, Ore.-Vancouver, Wash. 99 20 Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla. 91 19

*--*

Lowest Job Growth

*--*

Metro area Cost* Job growth Philadelphia 110 -6% Hartford, Conn. 112 -4 Los Angeles 114 -4 Honolulu 120 -2 San Francisco 120 -2 New Haven, Conn. 113 -1 New York 142 -1 Newark, N.J. 107 1 Nassau-Suffolk counties, N.Y. 117 2 Orange County 103 2 Trenton, N.J. 105 2 Oakland 106 3 Pittsburgh 103 4 Boston 116 6 Providence, R.I. 105 6 Washington 119 6 Cleveland 104 7 San Jose 113 7

*--*

*Cost-of-doing-business index, with 100 being the national average.

Source: Forbes magazine