Best and Worst Cities for Jobs, Spring 2009

Quarterly Survey Reveals Areas Expecting the Largest Employment Growth and Losses

by Tara Weiss and Emily Schmitt, Forbes.com

Thanks to last year’s strong harvest of apples and the jobs that followed in juicing, packaging and shipping, Yakima, Wash., has the strongest employment outlook in the country for the second quarter of 2009, according to a quarterly survey by employment services firm Manpower.

“This is an agricultural base, a huge apple-growing region,” says Bill Cook, director of community and economic development for Yakima. “Last year’s apple harvest was huge, and it helped carry employment through the winter. Even in a normal economic year that wouldn’t happen.”