Job Growth by State
California, Texas, and Florida, the states with the largest number of small businesses, are also the three states that added the largest number of jobs in Q1 2023. But what about growth in terms of percentage increase? Which state has the highest job growth?
Here’s a look at the rankings of job growth by state.
Job growth by state 2023 Q1: top 10
According to the latest state job growth rankings, Alaska saw the biggest increase in job creation in Q1 2023. This refers to jobs gained represented as a percentage of the state’s total employment. In the first quarter of this year, Alaska added 10.4% more jobs—more than its average quarterly growth rate from the previous four quarters, which comes in at 10%. Alaska is also the only state that saw job growth increase by more than 10% in Q1 2023.
This is followed by Wyoming and Montana, which gained 8.9% and 8.7% more jobs, respectively. Fourth on the list ranking job growth rate by state is Vermont, with 8.2%. Idaho rounds out the five states with the highest job growth in Q1 2023, with 7.9%.
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Here are numbers six to 10 on this ranking of job growth by state:
- Maine: 7.7%
- North Dakota: 7.6%
- Rhode Island: 7.5%
- Oregon: 7.3%
- Colorado: 7.2%
State job growth rankings 2023 Q1: bottom 10
Looking at the bottom end of the list ranking job growth by state, we see that Texas added 5.9% more jobs to its economies in Q1 2023. This makes it the state with the 41st biggest job growth.
Arkansas, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Ohio follow with job growth rates of 5.8% each. Michigan and Minnesota rank next, having created 5.7% more jobs in Q1 2023. Meanwhile, Hawaii, Indiana, and Pennsylvania are the states with the lowest job growth, with 5.5%—nearly half of Alaska’s.
It’s worth noting that seven of these bottom 10 states saw their job growth rates slow in Q1 2023, when compared to Q4 2022. The only two states to have increased their growth rates are Illinois and Massachusetts. Pennsylvania’s growth rate held steady from Q4 2022 to Q1 2023.