Providence plummets on latest ‘Best Cities for Job Growth’ list
May 14th, 2012 at 10:33 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
The Providence metropolitan area fell a jaw-dropping 124 spots on Forbes magazine’s annual list of the Best Cities for Job Growth, plunging from No. 256 in 2011 to No. 380, only 18 spots away from dead last.
Providence scored a 17.7 on Forbes’ weighed index of employment growth, which measures recent and longer-term trends. Odessa, Texas, was No. 1 with a 99.4 score, while Dalton, Ga., was last with a 0.5.
Providence fared even worse among other large-sized cities, coming in second to last out of 65 metropolitan areas; only Birmingham, Ala., fared worse. The Providence area’s unemployment rate was 10.8% in March, down from 11.1% a year earlier but up from 5.1% in March 2007, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
If there was any silver lining for Providence, it was in the accompanying article by Joel Kotkin, which suggested: “When it comes to growth, economic and demographic, opportunity increasingly is to be found in smaller, and often remote, places.” That wouldn’t include the Providence metropolitan area, but it could fit the capital city itself.
“Why are the stronger smaller cities growing faster than most larger ones?” Kotkin writes. “The keys may lie in many mundane factors that are often too prosaic for urban theorists. They include things such as strong community institutions like churches and shorter commutes …. Young families might be attracted to better schools … and the access to natural amenities common in many of these smaller communities.”
Tags: demographics, economy, employment, fall river, forbes, jobs, joel kotkin, new bedford, providence
Nesi's Notes covers politics and the economy in and around Rhode Island for WPRI.com. (Twitter: 
Ted, why are you so surprised? What major stories have you been reporting about for the last year? The major stories are tax increases, chapter 9, the pensions issue, the tax exempts getting a tax bill. What company wants to set up business in an area where the rules chance at the winds of the elected officals? Look at how pathetic the public education is in the public schools in the state, the housing stock is obsolete, there are zoning boards that want to be paid off to let a project develop. There is over a million square feet of retail space that is empty. Seriously, Ted go back and look at the previous reports are on your own station. Rhode Island has nothing to offer and the people are parasites. Companies want to set up shop where the population has ethcis, something Rhode Islanders don’t understand. There is no insight in the population. Rhode Island is the third world of the United States. Bring Papa Doc from Haiti he would fit in here very well.
Edng,
“There is no insight in the population.” Best point in your comment!
Maybe we need an “Urban Theorist” advisory position in the state house.
Kotkin’s theory does not apply to Rhode Island. We are a city state; the entire place has been destroyed by a corrupt General Assembly more interested in perpetuating the status quo and placating the union boss puppet masters and the entitlement crowd than serving the best interests of ALL of the citizens, including the taxpayers.
How about some balance in the General Assembly? We are going down the tubes and it seems that they are focused on anything but job creation. We don’t need bills about smoking in the car, voting rights for legal aliens, etc. It is time to get rid of these entrenched democrats.