The Space Needle is seen through the pillars of a public art display, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020, in Seattle. The landmark’s usual in-person fireworks display on New Year’s Eve will instead be a virtual display streamed on the internet. The coronavirus scourge that dominated the 2020 is also looming over New Year’s festivities and forcing officials worldwide to tone them down. From New York’s Times Square to Sydney Harbor, big public blowouts are being turned into TV-only shows and digital events. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
AP
Washington is the home of not one, but two U.S. cities that rank among the top 20 when it comes to jobs and employment, according to a new report from personal finance website WalletHub.
The coronavirus pandemic has hampered the job market, with unemployment surging to more than 14{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1} in April as stay-home orders sprouted across the nation, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show.
The employment landscape has since improved — unemployment dropped to 6.7{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1} by November — and for those on the job hunt, WalletHub says prospects depend largely on location.
The website just released its list of the best cities for jobs in 2021, with Seattle ranking No. 8 and Tacoma coming in at No. 18 throughout the entire country.
South Burlington, Vermont, landed in the top spot. Rounding out the top five were Columbia, Maryland; Virginia Beach, Virginia; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Boise, Idaho.
To determine its rankings, WalletHub assessed more than 180 U.S. cities across several factors that fall into two categories: job market and socioeconomics.
Seattle’s best ranking was in socioeconomics, placing eighth. The category examines factors such as housing affordability, family friendliness and average work and commute time, among others.
When it comes to the job market category, Seattle took the No. 14 spot. The category looks at factors including job opportunities — calculated by subtracting the unemployment rate from the number of job openings per number of people in the labor force — average monthly starting salary, job security and employment outlook.
Tacoma, meanwhile, ranked 23rd in socioeconomics and 29th in the job market category. Vancouver, which ranked 36th overall, landed in the top five for cities with the highest employment growth. Spokane came in at number 59 overall.
Seattle, with a population of about 753,000 people, tied with four other cities for having the highest monthly average starting salary, the report says.
