The Gainesville metropolitan area is one of the top-performing small communities when it comes to job growth and economic development over the last year, according to a new index report from the Milken Institute, an independent think tank located in Santa Monica, Calif. That finding corresponds with the fact that Gainesville has the lowest unemployment rate among the 25 local areas surveyed by the federal Labor Department. “Despite some signs of slowing job gains over the past several months, labor markets are strengthening,” the index report states.