Anyone on the hunt for a new job should keep an eye out for opportunities in Columbia, Md.
The city has ranked number 1 on WalletHub’s list of Best Places to Find a Job.
To find the best job markets in the U.S., WalletHub compared 182 cities across two key dimensions: job market and socioeconomics.
The job market category included factors such as job opportunities and employment growth, while the socioeconomics category included aspects such as median annual income and average commute time.
Columbia ranked number 1 overall, with a first place ranking for socioeconomics, and second place for job market.
Columbia beat out Salt Lake City, the second-place finisher, as well as San Francisco (3); Portland, Maine (4) and Austin, Texas (5).
Rounding out the Top 10: Orlando (6), Seattle (7), Scottsdale, AZ (8); San Jose, CA (9); and Nashua, NH (10).
The list comes at a time when American workers are leaving their jobs at record highs, in what is sometimes referred to as the Great Resignation.
In November, 4.5 million people walked off the job, the Labor Department said Tuesday.
The surge in quitting in recent months may be an advantage for job seekers, as it has led to more job openings and given workers leverage to seek better pay and working conditions.
In Maryland, the state gained 8,400 jobs and the unemployment rate decreased to 5.4% in November – the lowest rate since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic – according to the Labor Department.
In the same month, Maryland added jobs more than twice as fast as the rest of the U.S.
While the surge in Omicron cases will likely prolong economic uncertainty, it’s too soon to tell how the variant will impact the job market.
“The unemployment rate for 2022 will depend on COVID variants and policy responses, and there is much uncertainty in those,” John Winters, an economics professor at Iowa State University, told WalletHub.
“That said, the economy is currently quite strong and I expect that will likely continue through 2022,” he said.
