Oct. 8--Waco is the third-best city in America for new jobs, according to Forbes magazine.

The magazine based that ranking on a report by Manpower, which surveyed 28,000 employers across the nation's 201 metropolitan statistical areas. The Waco MSA includes all of McLennan County.

Manpower measured what percentage of employers expect to be hiring in the next quarter, between October and December, what percentage expect to be firing, and then tallied the difference as "net employment outlook."

In the Waco MSA, 19 percent of employers expect to be hiring, while 9 percent expect to be firing. That gave Waco a net employment outlook of plus 10 percent.

Nationwide, only 12 percent of employers in the U.S. plan to hire, and 14 percent plan to fire, for a national net employment outlook down 2 percent, according to Manpower.

"We are strengthened by our diverse economy and the number of companies who have selected Greater Waco as a place to relocate or expand their business," said Jim Vaughan, president of the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce.

"With healthy sectors such as transportation, health care, aviation and advanced manufacturing providing jobs here," Vaughan added, "it's no wonder that Waco is strong enough to be recognized by Forbes' assessment of America's best cities for new jobs."

Of all the businesses surveyed, 69 percent said they would not be adding or removing any staff, Jeffrey Joerres, CEO of Manpower, said that's the most in the survey's 47-year history.

The cities of Lincoln, Neb., and Rochester, N.Y., are the only cities that ranked ahead of Waco in the poll.

Despite Waco's high ranking, everything is not going well for the MSA on the employment front.

Waco's unemployment rate jumped to 7.3 percent in August, the highest for any month since the Texas Employment Commission began its current system of tracking the jobless rate in 2000.

August is the latest month for which figures are available.

The prospects for job growth do look promising, as the Manpower survey reflects.

A new National Pharmacy Contact Center at the Waco Veterans Affairs Hospital is filling 224 full- and part-time positions; Associated Hygienic Products is hiring more than 115 employees at its new diaper-making plant; Clearview Managed Services hopes to hire 150 over three years for its new data center; and L-3 Communications is adding 100 new jobs at its aircraft-modification plant.

mcopeland@wacotrib.com

757-5736

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