By L.A. Lorek
SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS NEWS BUSINESS WRITER
January 11, 2008

San Antonio is a hot spot for jobs in 2008, according to Forbes.com.

The city ranked No. 11 on its third annual list of 100 best cities for jobs. It joined six other Texas cities on the list:

Austin at No. 3
Fort Worth at No. 5
Houston at No. 7
Dallas at No. 18
McAllen at No. 33
El Paso at No. 49

"It seems like the Lone Star State is the place to go if you're looking to start a career or continue the one you've got," said Matthew Kirdahy, the Forbes.com reporter who wrote the article.
Forbes compiled the list from Moody's Economy.com data, including unemployment rate, job growth, income growth, median household income and cost of living, Kirdahy said. Salt Lake City topped the list.

San Antonio ranked fifth nationwide in job growth, he said. The city added 15,500 jobs in 2007, according to figures from Alamo WorkSource.

One of San Antonio's job generators is Microsoft Corp., which is building a $550 million data center in Westover Hills that it plans to open this year, creating at least 75 jobs.

In addition, homegrown technology company Rackspace Managed Hosting expects to hire 3,000 new employees in San Antonio during the next five years.

The job growth is coming from all areas of San Antonio's economy and from existing businesses getting bigger, Mayor Phil Hardberger said.

"It shows that we are growing and we are prospering," he said. "Virtually everyone who wants a job in San Antonio can find one."

Unemployment is a good monitor of a city's health, and San Antonio is one of the healthiest cities in the nation, Hardberger said. San Antonio's unemployment rate was 3.9 percent in November, up slightly from 3.6 percent in October, but still better than the state's 4.2 percent rate, according to data from Alamo Worksource.

In the next few years, San Antonio will have thousands of new military jobs and $2.1 billion in construction spending from the Defense Department's 2005 Base Closure and Realignment Recommendations. The bulk of those jobs will be at Fort Sam Houston.

The Forbes.com list also helps San Antonio attract additional talented employees, said Mario Hernandez, President of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation.

"In certain high-tech businesses, it's difficult to find some of the people to fill those specific occupations, whether they be engineers or a tool and die maker," he said.