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.”

Former state Rep. Mary Skinner died this morning at her home in Yakima, less than a year after announcing that she was stepping down from her legislative seat to battle colon cancer. She was 63.

Elected to the House in 1994, Skinner served 14 years in Olympia, including two as vice chair of the House Republican caucus. The daughter of migrant workers in California, she spent virtually all her life in the Yakima Valley, moving to Wapato with her family when she was 3 months old.

Among the bills she championed in Olympia: double fines in school zones, a car seat safety law, hiring a state poet laureate, and extending insurance coverage to cover colon cancer screening. She pushed for state money to revamp Yakima’s downtown, including the Capitol Theatre.

Skinner was diagnosed in early 2006, undergoing surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. After a brief remission, the cancer returned.

Skinner was married for 40 years to Henry Harlow “Hal” Skinner Jr., a surgeon. Dr. Skinner died Jan. 17 at 88.

The two will be honored at a joint funeral service, which is still being scheduled.