Southern cities want young professionals

The Future. For recent college grads, landing a job has become increasingly harder. But cities in the southern US are putting up some much-needed “hiring” signs. If the recruiting continues, the influx of young people may turn the South into a new cultural hub.

Hot generation
A study by payroll provider ADP found that big cities in the South are becoming the best place for young people to find work.

• The top five locations are Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina; Austin, Texas; Baltimore, Maryland; and Atlanta, Georgia.
• They offer plenty of entry-level positions in the tech, healthcare, and financial industries, as well as plenty of research universities. (Raleigh, the top location, is part of the Research Triangle.)
• While they may not pay as much as cities like San Francisco and New York, they have good salaries relative to their costs of living.

How rough is it for college grads right now? According to Goldman Sachs, the unemployment rate for workers between the ages of 20 and 24 is higher than before the pandemic, with the monthly rate of hires for people with little-to-no experience at 13%. 

And as major companies scale back their workforces due to high interest rates and the rise of AI, regions that are still hiring (and hiring humans) are worth paying attention to.