So says a quarterly survey by the staffing company Manpower, reported recently in Forbes. From the article:

Cities in the Pacific Northwest and Texas have the best employment outlook for April through June, while cities in the the Southeast have the weakest, according to the study.

Yakima’s 21 percent projected increase in employment — apparently due to a strong apple crop and processing — gave it “the strongest employment outlook in the country” for Q2 of 2009.

Kennewick was No. 2, with 19 percent growth expected. No. 3 was Anchorage, Alaska.

And the worst job prospects? Hello, Florida, hit hard by the construction bubble and then hit again by the tourism slump.

State Rep. John Driscoll — whose predecessor, John Ahern, frequently talked about “a great sucking sound” as employers took their jobs to nearby Idaho — said he was pleased by the news.

“Well, he indeed heard a sucking noise, but he had the direction wrong,” said Driscoll, D-Spokane. “The good jobs are coming here.”

The state Senate is scheduled this morning to pass a bill, HB 1113, sponsored by local Rep. John Driscoll.

The bill is a $133 million sale of state bonds to pay for school construction projects that are already underway.

The work was already planned, but inflation and faster construction than the state expected means that the school construction fund was running out of money. The bond sale refills that pot of money.

“It would be foolish to stop projects that are halfway done,” said Driscoll.

The list, Driscoll said, include work at the Ferris, Shadle and Rogers high schools, as well as on school buildings in the Mead and Nine Mile Falls districts. All told, there are 167 projects in 67 districts.

“If school districts showed up for reimbursement and we said `Sorry,’ that would give another shock to the economy, a shock we don’t need,” said Hans Dunshee, chairman of the House construction-budget committee.

Local Reps. Matt Shea and John Driscoll made their opening floor speeches Monday, making the case — although it didn’t have to be made, judging by the unanimous voice vote — for passage of a resolution honoring the state’s National Guard troops.

Shea, a former company commander in the 81st Brigade, recounted the death of one of his soldiers, killed by a 500-pound bomb detonated a few feet from the Sgt. Jeff Shaver’s humvee. He talked about getting a letter shortly after that from the 26-year-old’s fiancee, a woman named Charity. She said she took comfort knowing that he’d found true love before he was killed.

“Charity sacrificed her future husband on the altar of freedom,” said Shea, R-Mead. ” And I think we need to each ask ourselves: what price will we pay?”

Driscoll, D-Spokane, also said he was proud to honor the troops for putting their lives and families on hold out of their sense of duty.

“Our state, our nation and our world is a better place because of what you do,” he said.

House lawmakers on Monday passed their first bills of this year’s legislative session. Among them:

-HB 1049, which lets National Guard veterans tap local relief programs,

-HB 105, which changes the state hiring preference for veterans,

-and HB 1034, which allows more public use of National Guard armories.