We're also near the top in teen pregnancy

Odessa tops jobs list
BY GEOFF FOLSOM/Odessa American

Though the recent downturn has sent the area unemployment rate up a bit, Odessa has become known in recent years for its availability of jobs. Now it is getting recognized for it.

The business news website Forbes.com has ranked Odessa the nation's best small city for jobs, making it the first of five Texas markets that made the top 10.

We're No. 1.

"There's probably about 5,000 other chambers of commerce across the nation that would love to be in my seat right now," said Mike George, president and chief executive officer of the Odessa Chamber of Commerce. "I'm very proud of the accomplishment."

The website touts Odessa's 5.5 percent job growth last year at a time when "2 percent growth made a city a veritable boomtown, and anything approaching a 1 percent growth is, oddly, better than merely respectable."

Of course, the story, written by Joel Kotkin, said high oil prices last year were a big part of Odessa's standing, with 20 percent of the city's jobs in natural resources, mining and construction, which has seen a cumulative growth of 95.6 percent since 2003.

George said he anticipates using the ranking in future campaigns to solicit business to Odessa.

"This is the type of publicity that advertising dollars cannot touch," he said. "The potential positive impact this could have on our potential to attract new business is unlimited."

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I hope people don't move their families based on rankings in magazines or they will be severely disappointed. The problem in O-Town is that the oil economy shifts overnight. High oil prices drove this Forbes ranking up and now many of the jobs created during the boom have disappeared. So I hope the new arrivals like working at Chili's. Get my Big Mouth Bites and Coors Light and make it snappy.