Feeling good: These 10 U.S. metros top all rivals in workforce confidence

What does optimism look like? For Greenville, S.C., mayor Knox White, the lure of better times ahead begins with the view from his office window.

“I can see three construction cranes,” Mayor White reports. New housing and office complexes are taking shape in a re-energized downtown. Take a walk around the corner, and Greenville's street scene is bustling with outdoor dining at newly opened steakhouses, French restaurants, Thai restaurants and brew pubs.?

“We were strong before COVID,” White said in a phone interview. “But now the energy is palpable.” Companies making everything from genetic-testing kits to refrigerated trucks are ramping up operations in the Greensville metro area. Even mayors from other cities as far away as Grand Rapids, Mich., are visiting Greenville to see how it’s done.

Each year, LinkedIn’s big Workforce Confidence survey highlights the 10 U.S. metro areas where individuals’ overall optimism is running highest. And as the chart below shows, Greenville (plus nearby Spartanburg and Anderson, S.C.) are tied with Nashville for this year’s top spot.?

Overall, southeastern metros are this year’s stars, capturing seven of the top-10 spots. North Carolina has two standouts, while Tennessee, South Carolina, Kentucky, Florida and Virginia each have one. Findings are based on surveys of 34,692 professionals from January 1 through March 31, 2022. Confidence is measured on a scale from a low of -100 to a high of +100.

At the top of this year’s list, the Nashville metro area (+51) is benefiting from a population influx of as many as 30,000 people a year. It’s also seeing big investments from the likes of Amazon, as well as a robust healthcare sector.

Greenville’s metro area, which includes nearby Spartanburg, is becoming a growing hub for the automotive industry. Germany’s BMW set up manufacturing in that part of South Carolina decades ago and keeps expanding. Last month Argo AI, a maker of self-driving vehicles, announced a move into the Greenville/Spartanburg area, too.

“I just think we’re on the right path,” Spartanburg mayor Jerome Rice recently told local television station WSPA, citing not only the city’s economic development but also “what we’re trying to do with equity and inclusion in the city.”

Third-ranked Louisville benefits from a diverse economy that blends health care, manufacturing, retailing, finance, lodging, transportation and warehousing. That’s opening a lot of pathways for fresh college graduates; the University of Louisville recently reported that job postings are up 41% from year-earlier levels.?

In fourth-ranked Miami-Fort Lauderdale, the metro unemployment rate shrunk to just 2.8% in March, well below the national average of 3.6%. Florida overall is enjoying a manufacturing boom, and Miami is enjoying a surprising rise to prominence as a financial center.?

If one looks at metros showing the greatest leaps in confidence from 2021’s fourth quarter to this year’s first quarter, Greenville tops that list, with a 24-point rise (from +27 to +51). Rochester, N.Y. is second, climbing 14 points to +41.

At the other end of the spectrum, St. Louis (+31), the Richmond, Va., area (+34) and Philadelphia (+35) were the three metros with the lowest confidence levels. That’s still above the national averages for most of 2020 – in a sign that the pandemic-related gloom of recent times has largely abated.

Methodology

LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index is based on a quantitative online survey distributed to members via email every two weeks. Roughly 5,000 U.S.-based members respond to each wave. Members are randomly sampled and must be opted into research to participate. Students, stay-at-home partners and retirees are excluded from analysis so we can get an accurate representation of those currently active in the workforce. We analyze data in aggregate and will always respect member privacy. Data is weighted by engagement level, to ensure fair representation of various activity levels on the platform. The results represent the world as seen through the lens of LinkedIn’s membership; variances between LinkedIn’s membership and the overall market population are not accounted for.