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Top 100 Markets Lose Jobs in Past Year

by G. Scott Thomas

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

 The nation’s 100 biggest labor markets all have fewer private-sector jobs now than they did a year ago, according to figures released Wednesday morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But 13 markets -- Buffalo among them -- experienced relatively mild declines of less than 2 percent between February 2009 and the same month this year.

 Augusta, Ga., had the smallest decline in both the percentage (0.4 percent) and raw number (600) of private-sector jobs lost during the past year. McAllen, Texas, was second on both lists with losses of 0.9 percent, or 1,500 jobs.

The Buffalo area posted the eighth-smallest rate of decline (1.5 percent) among the nation’s top 100 markets. The two-county metro, which includes Erie and Niagara counties, had 6,600 fewer private-sector jobs in February 2010 than in the same month a year ago.

Wichita, Kans., and New York City suffered the nation's worst private-sector job losses during the past year. Wichita registered the highest percentage of decline since February 2009, 6.5 percent, while the New York City area had the largest loss in raw numbers, 184,500 jobs.

Read more: Top 100 markets lose jobs in past year - Business First of Buffalo: