By Dave Gatton
October 1, 2012

The U.S. economy is projected to add nearly 11.5 million jobs over the next five years, according to The U.S. Conference of Mayors and IHS Global Insight. In a report released at its September 24 Dallas Fall leadership meeting, the mayors expect jobs to grow 8.6 percent through 2017, adding to the mounting evidence that the economy will continue to add jobs well into the future.

“This report shows that the economy will continue to produce jobs, despite the political gridlock in Washington,” said Conference of Mayors President Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter. “Mayors are working with their business community to help sustain the recovery, but we still need Congress to do its job to make the recovery stronger.”

The professional and business services sector is forecast to lead growth, adding 3.69 million jobs over the next five years, with most of the growth coming from expansions in the admin/support subsector.

Other major job contributors will include the education and health services sector, projected to add 2.08 million jobs through 2017; and the construction, natural resources and mining sector, also slated to add 2.08 million jobs.

Future growth in the manufacturing sector will come from expansions in durable goods, up 11.8 percent.

Although the federal government is expected to drop jobs in the future (-9.1 percent), state and local government will expand jobs for the next five years by 3.2 percent.

The report also analyzed job projections for 15 major metro areas. Among these metros, Phoenix-Mesa will see a 14.2 percent payroll growth over the five-year period. Charlotte is forecast to experience 13.8 percent job growth, followed by Laredo at 13.7 percentand Dallas-Fort Worth at 12.8 percent.

Over the period, professional and business services will be the top contributor to job growth in 13 of the 15 metros analyzed.

The report can be found online at usmayors.org