"New York and Boston were among the best performing citiesduring the recession," according to the report. "Clearly, thefederal efforts to support the financial system had the desiredimpact: the economy did not collapse and the banking systemsurvived." As a result, the report says, the 7.2% decline infinancial services employment was less than the drops inprofessional business services, retail and information: 8.2%, 7.5%and 9.8%, respectively.

The top three cities in terms of financial services employmentare New York City at 11.8% of total employment, Boston at 11.2% andDallas at 8.8%. All three were among the top seven lowest job-losscities, says C&W.

Boston and New York also rank high in education and healthservices employment, coming in second and third, respectively,behind Philadelphia. Again, cities with large numbers of jobs inthese areas withstood the recession better than most.