Birmingham metro ranks 5th nationally in job growth

Birmingham metro ranks 5th nationally in job growth

With the addition of over 16,000 jobs, the Birmingham-Hoover metro had the 5th highest employment growth in the nation (by percentage) between 2022-2023, according to a recent report from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The report was compiled from an assessment of metros across the nation whose populations were at least 1 million as of the 2010 Census, according to the BLS website. Out of these 51 metros, 30 saw notable employment increases and 21 were “essentially unchanged,” BLS said.

The metro areas that had the largest net employment increases from November 2022 to November 2023 were Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas (139,700), New York-Newark-Jersey City, New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania (122,200), and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif. (107,000).

Although the net growth of several cities on the list surpasses Birmingham-Hoover’s growth by three times or more, the existing employment base of these cities is also much larger, meaning that the impact isn’t as strong on the region as a whole, according to local urban planning expert Christopher Burks.

Only four metro areas outranked Birmingham-Hoover in growth percentage. Jacksonville, Florida; Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nevada; Raleigh, North Carolina (3.8 percent each); and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas (3.3 percent).