Uneven land of opportunity: US regional employment futures

This paper augments our understanding of the geography of work and opportunity in the United States, examining employment projections for a set of occupations deemed to have a particularly ‘bright outlook’ in the coming decade. Drawing labour and feminist geography insights into regional studies, this paper combines several sources of socioeconomic data to examine critically, first, the regional patterns of projected employment; and, second, how good these jobs really are. It finds that access to these jobs will be highly uneven across the United States; many of these jobs pay well below average, often not paying regional living wages; and patterned disadvantages are likely to hamper improved pay and conditions. It is argued that the mismatch between the optimistic rhetoric and the actual empirics shows that deep changes must be made for there to be a bright outlook for US employment futures. The paper concludes with suggestions on regional policy avenues that could improve this outlook.