iStockphoto / NicoElNino
The American job market added 263,000 new jobs in April and the unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been since 1969 (mostly) due to a lot of people removing themselves from the job pool or picking up multiple part-time jobs. Things are pretty good aside from wage stagnation being complete and utter dogshit these days.
But just because the unemployment rate is low and the economy is adding new jobs it doesn’t mean that things are great everywhere. Some states are thriving A LOT more than others right now.
The website WalletHub published a comprehensive list of the best and worst states in America for finding jobs and they did so using ’33 key indicators of job-market strength, opportunity and a healthy economy.’ What they found was Massachusetts as the best overall state for jobs thanks to strong employment growth and the shortest time spent working. New Hampshire ranked tops for the most current job opportunities and Texas was #1 for highest starting salary.
Looking at this list, you can see how things don’t look particularly great in The South right now. Scrolling through the list of all 50 states, the highest ranked Southern state is Texas which may or may not be considered part of The South depending on who you’re talking to but it’s usually its own entity or part of the Southwest. Virginia is 14th, Tennessee is 17th, Florida is 21st, and then you can scroll to the bottom of the list where you’ll find West Virginia, Mississippi, Kentucky, Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas.
Here’s what the list looks like in order:
1. Massachusetts
2. Washington
3. Colorado
4. Vermont
5. New Hampshire
6. Minnesota
7. Delaware
8. New Jersey
9. California
10. Rhode Island
11. Nebraska
12. Texas
13. Connecticut
14. Virginia
15. Iowa
16. South Dakota
17. Tennessee
18. Utah
19. Nevada
20. New York
21. Florida
22. North Dakota
23. Wisconsin
24. Kansas
25. Idaho
26. Maryland
27. Arizona
28. Maine
29. Michigan
30. Hawaii
31. Illinois
32. New Mexico
33. Missouri
34. Wyoming
35. South Carolina
36. Georiga
37. Oklahoma
38. Indiana
39. Oregon
40. Ohio
41. Montana
42. North Carolina
43. Pennsylvania
44. Arkansas
45. Alabama
46. Alaska
47. Louisiana
48. Kentucky
49. Mississippi
50. West Virginia
wallethub
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For detailed information on each state’s overall ‘Job Market Score’ you can click the link and check out the full study on WalletHub with information about the methodology.