The South Offers More than a Place to Retire for Baby Boomers

What do Abilene, TX, Asheville, NC, Athens, GA, Blacksburg, VA and Cape Coral, FL all have in common?  Forbes has named these cities among the Top Ten Best Places to Retire in 2015.  And, in case you don't now your geography, all of these cities are located in the South.

But there's even more good news about the South according to the results of a newly released Harris Poll. More people below the Mason-Dixon line have a positive attitude about the future of the job market.

Here's how it breaks down according to the Harris Poll:

·  Positive attitudes toward regional job markets are strongest in the South and the West (34% each, vs. 29% in the Midwest and 23% in the East).

·  Easterners are the most pessimistic about the job market in their region, with 46% describing it as bad (vs. 38% each in the Midwest and South, and 33% in the West).

Additionally, men (35%) are more likely than women (27%) to rate the job market in their region positively.

Millennials are more likely than their elders to anticipate that the job market will improve in their region (31%, vs. 24% Gen Xers, 22% baby Boomers and 25% Matures).

Meanwhile, according to figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics earlier this year, the African American unemployment rate was 10.4 percent, compared to the white unemployment rate of 4.7 percent and national average of 5.5 percent.