Metro Milwaukee ranked No. 2 in the country for recent college graduates seeking jobs

The metro Milwaukee area is one of the best places in the country for young people looking for a job, according to ADP Research.

ADP published a report titled "You've graduated. Now what?" using payroll data of more than 140,000 people age 20 to 29 at more than 27,000 employers in 55 metro areas with at least one million residents. ADP is the research arm of a human resources management software company.

The report ranked Milwaukee No. 2, behind Raleigh, N.C.

The report ranked the areas by annual wages, hiring rates and affordability. Milwaukee's hiring rate increased from 2.3% to 3.7% "leaping over greater Baltimore, Maryland, and Austin, Texas," the report said.

The report found metro Milwaukee's hiring rate to be in the 98th percentile, with affordability in the 70th percentile and wages in the 46th percentile.

"Being at the top of this list highlights Milwaukee as a promising city for recent grads, with strong wages, high hiring rates, and affordable cost of living for people in their 20s working jobs that require a bachelor's degree, at least by comparison to other metro areas," said Sam Adieze, data scientist with ADP Research and author of the report, in a statement.

"This holistic view of the Milwaukee metro is all the more salient now that the labor market for those jobs is cooler than it was a few short years ago."

The report caught the attention of Dale Kooyenga, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, who called Milwaukee "a city of opportunity."

“We’re seeing a surge in companies investing in our region and a new generation of talent choosing to build their careers here. It’s a powerful combination that’s helping to fuel our economic growth," Kooyenga said in a statement.

The metro-Milwaukee area is a key economic engine for Wisconsin, and the state overall has been experiencing high levels of employment and wage growth for months.

In January the state hit a record high of employment with roughly 3,076,500 people working, according to the state Department of Workforce Development.

On July 17, DWD announced the state had 3,055,000 people employed in the state and the unemployment rate at 3.2%, which is below the national unemployment rate of 4.1%.

The state's workforce participation rate decreased slightly to 62.3% which is still 2.8% higher than the national average.

Despite the decrease in jobs compared to the start of the year, total nonfarm jobs increased 5,500 over the month and 19,500 over the year according to the July release from DWD.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Metro Milwaukee arearanked No. 2 for recent graduates seeking jobs