From San Antonio To Raleigh — Some Cities Are Hiring

American mayors are worried that the gridlock in Washington will bring Main Street to a screeching halt.

At their annual meeting this year, the U.S. Conference of Mayors is calling on Congress to keep federal dollars flowing to cities for transportation projects, port infrastructure, technology and workforce training.

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton is also worried that if lawmakers don't agree on a debt reduction package this year then automatic cuts would kick in that would slash 350,000 defense jobs.

The annual conference of nearly 200 mayors is in Orlando, Fla., which Kiplinger recently named one of eight high job growth cities.

Phoenix, Ariz. is also on the list. That city was ground zero for the housing crisis, and just two years ago it had an unemployment rate of 12.2 percent. Now unemployment is down to 6.6 percent and job growth is pegged at 8 to 10 percent.

The magazine zeroed in on cities with more than one million people, with expected job growth over five years higher than the national average of 7 percent.

"Some of these cities had roots in large universities, elite research institutions, others had ties to the energy industry," John Maggs, senior economics editor at Kiplinger told Here & Now's Robin Young. "That's a theme that comes out on this list. Energy will play an important part in job creation, at least in the next five years."