Riverside is among the six hardest places in the U.S. to find a good-paying job, according to a new ranking by Forbes. The metro area tied with Louisville, Ky., for fifth place on the Forbes list of Hardest Cities for Finding a Job.
Of course, that's hardly news for most of us in the Inland region, where the current 13.9 percent unemployment rate is actually an improvement from recent years, and where more foreclosure homes are being sold than nonforeclosures. But it offers a glimpse of other cities where residents are having a tough time.
New Orleans, still suffering from the impact of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, was the hardest place to find good-paying work.
The Forbes list, compiled by Indeed.com using Bureau of Labor Statistics data, counted the number of job listings for every 1,000 people in major metro areas during the fourth quarter of 2010 with salaries of $50,000 or more. For example, New Orleans had 10 such listings for every 1,000 people.
Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y., tied for second place with 11 jobs per 1,000 people. Miami ranked No. 3 with 14 job postings.
Riverside and Louisville each had 16 job postings per 1,000 people.
By contrast, San Jose had 126 job postings per 1,000 people, making it the easiest city for finding a good-paying job, although you might need to know a thing or two about computers. Washington, D.C. was No. 2 with 116, followed by Baltimore with 78, San Francisco with 67, and Seattle with 55.
--Tiffany Ray
tray@PE.com