Large Metropolitan Areas That
Had the Fastest Employment
Growth, 2008

The Sun Belt and the Rockies showed the most impressive employment growth from 2007 to 2008, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Between May 2007 and May 2008, these two regions were home to all the large metropolitan areas in the United States in which employment growth was highest. Total U.S. nonfarm payroll employment increased only 0.6 percent over this period as the nation’s economic growth slowed just before going into recession. As the chart on the next page shows, employment in 10 of the metropolitan areas with at least 300,000 workers in May 2007 grew by at least seven times the national rate over the same period—and one of them increased at more than 29 times the national rate.

But before packing your bags for one of these metropolitan areas, remember that these data do not show the variation in the kinds of jobs added.

Large Metropolitan Areas That Had the Fastest Employment Growth, 2007–2008