Is where I live Ideal for my Job Situation?
I’ve said on here before that I’m from Pennsylvania. For a period of time, I was underemployed, and because of that, I thought that maybe I should start looking in Maryland, which is about a half an hour or so from my home. I started to do research, and I found out a few things, including the fact that Pennsylvania is one of the states that is a good place to try and find work: Researchers discovered that over 80,000 jobs had been added in the great state of PA in the past year, making it third of all the states in terms of adding available jobs to the market.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently put out a report that shared how states and regions were doing job wise; they found that 24 states had jobless rates lower than the average, 7 were above it, and 18 (and DC) were around the average. Now, unemployment isn’t the only factor that plays into this; the BLS also takes into account the number of jobs created and which way the jobless trend appears to be going (up or down). Here are 4 states (other than PA) that you should be glad to live in if you’re looking for a job.
1. North Dakota – North Dakota, other than being a beautiful place from what I’ve heard and seen in pictures, is also a very nice place to be if your job situation isn’t ideal. The biggest reason? The unemployment rate is the lowest in the country at 3.3%
2. New Hampshire- I’ve always said that I wanted to move to New England, and here’s another nice reason. The unemployment rate? 4.9%. Even better? Their average income is currently the highest in the United States. The bad thing? Cost of living is one of the highest too.
3. Texas – Although their unemployment rate is around the average, Texas is adding more jobs than any other state. Also, due to the size of their state, over 10 million people are employed. Big numbers, even for a big state.
4. Vermont- New Hampshire’s neighbor, their unemployment rate is about the same. And the numbers for other potential financial struggles are promising too: lowest foreclosure rate and one of the lowest loan default rates in the country. So, people are employed and not borrowing past what they can pay.
Now, of course, with a list of the best comes a list of the worst. So, job seekers, you may be struggling a bit if you live in any of these states:
- California – California, where people thought dreams could come true at one point in America’s history, has an unemployment rate of 11.9% even though they are the second highest state in adding jobs.
- Idaho – Idaho has been in an interesting situation. When the recession started, they only had a 3.3% unemployment rate. Now, when other states are finally building back up, their rate has skyrocketed to 9.7% – Almost 3 times as much!
- Kentucky- One of 7 states to have over 10%, but adding almost 150,000 new jobs in the past 6 months may have a positive effect on this soon.
- Rhode Island- Unlike its neighbors, Rhode Island’s unemployment hovers over 9%, making it the highest rate in New England, and the 3rd highest in country.
The job outlook isn’t necessarily much higher than it is right now (which is something I explored a little bit last week), but there is hope! The economy is still struggling, but in some states, the job outlook can help pick it back up a bit.
