Things are looking up in St. Joseph. There is growth in the job market, businesses are planning expansions and new schools and neighborhoods are being built. The town is growing and a few recent national reports have taken notice. These reports are ranking St. Joseph as one of the best cities for job growth.
The Milken Institute, in Santa Monica, CA, recently reported their choices for the best performers among small cities and St. Joseph improved its ranking from 51 in 2011 to 29 in 2012. For the years between 2006 and 2011, Milken ranked St. Joseph as ninth overall in best cities for job growth out of 179 cities.
The Milken Institute index looks at multiple facets of job growth in deciding which cities rank most favorably. The Institute looks at how many jobs were created in that city and how many were sustained. They also looked at growth in salaries and wages for the city’s employees. Growth in technology was also analyzed in choosing the best cities for job growth. In other recent studies, St. Joseph had lower unemployment rates than Missouri or America’s averages.
St. Joseph’s great diversity of employment opportunities and stable economic base helps it attain prestigious rankings between other small cities in America. With diversity comes opportunity for craftsmen, as well as scientists. It involves collaboration between partners with varied professional skills all within the same community.
Expansions of businesses such as Triumph Foods will bring over 100 new jobs to St. Joseph. Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica is building a warehouse and distribution center in Eastowne Business Park. Two new elementary schools will provide jobs for educators, food service workers, custodians, and other professionals. Facilities like the Kit Bond Science and Technology Incubator provide research laboratories and venues for professionals to meet and collaborate about building future businesses and providing quality training to keep businesses up-to-date and successfully growing.
Along with St. Joseph’s ranking by Milken as one of the best cities for job growth, the city also received a high ranking for its Gross Domestic Product in 2012. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis commended St. Joseph as one of the fastest-growing metro areas for GDP growth last year when St. Joseph had a 9.8 percent increase from 2011. Out of 381 metro areas, the Bureau ranked St. Joseph as fourth for building $5.2 million in GDP growth.
These prestigious rankings should be no surprise to St. Joseph citizens who have witnessed much over the last decade. New shopping centers stretch the city’s limits. Renovations to older shopping centers take away the threat of empty buildings and reveal new shopping opportunities to customers. Expansions and new building projects are apparent around town and further help to verify that St. Joseph is indeed one of the best cities for job growth.
