Best cities for job growth 2016

A computation of job growth in cities produces familiar results for Wichita.

NewGeography.com has released its Best Cities for Job Growth rankings for 2016. It is described as a “performance measure of job growth over the recent, medium, and longer term.” MSAs are assigned an index value calculated from job growth rates measured several ways.

Of 98 midsized MSAs, Wichita ranked 78 out of 98. That’s five spots higher in ranking from the year before. Considering all 421 MSAs, Wichita ranked 298.

Wichita’s economic development efforts need reform. The city has taken several initiatives such as forgoing cash incentives, taking a regional approach, and reorganizing its economic development agencies. In some cases, these reforms are merely window dressing. For others, the same groups of politicians, bureaucrats, and civic leaders are still in charge. We hope, somehow, that the same policies and people will produce something other than what has earned Wichita’s low ranking.