Chicago: The City That Doesn't Work?

By Marcus Gilmer in Miscellaneous on Aug 18, 2009 2:40PM

"It's impossible to find a job in this town." We've heard that over and over again from friends and family who have lost their jobs in this economic downturn (and not just the journalism school grads, either). According to a new survey measuring job market competition put together by job site Indeed.com (via TechCrunch), Chicago is one of the worst cities in America when it comes to getting a new job. It's not exactly the most scientific of surveys: Indeed measured the number of unemployed people in the city versus the number of job postings on its site and BAM! you have your index. For example, Washington, D.C. is apparently the easiest place to get a job with a ratio of six job postings for each unemployed person.

Where does Chicago fall? All the way down at number 45 with a ratio of one job for every seven unemployed people, allegedly making it one of the hardest places to get a job (assuming you don't "have a guy"). But like all of these lists, you have to take it with a huuuuuuge grain of salt. After all, only the top two cities have more job postings than unemployed people. And there are no exact numbers listed on the study, i.e., number of jobs and number of unemployed. So just because Chicago is listed below cities like Baltimore, Hartford, and my old stomping ground of New Orleans (which hasn't exactly been the picture of economic growth over the last several, uh, dozens of years), doesn't mean those cities are any better off than we are. As a grandparent of mine used to say, "Things is tough all over."