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May Jobs Report Reveals Uneven Recovery

View how recent job growth compares for each state.

The U.S. Labor Department released its latest jobs report on Friday, providing updated data on the employment outlook in each state.

Thirty-seven states recorded job gains in May, led by California (+54,200), New York (+42,700) and Texas (+33,200). In 20 states, the monthly increase was large enough to be considered statistically significant. Preliminary estimates also suggest North Dakota (-5,300) and Wisconsin (-8,600) suffered the steepest declines in May payroll employment of any state.

Looking back further, jobs data depicts an economic recovery that remains uneven across the country. Seventeen states have enjoyed over-the-year employment gains exceeding 2 percent. Utah (+3.9 percent) has registered the strongest job growth over the past 12 months, followed by Washington (+3.6 percent) and Florida (+3.4 percent). In 11 other states, over-the-year job gains are far weaker, below 1 percent. West Virginia has lost an estimated 16,600 jobs, with most of the losses occurring in the public sector.

 



State May 2015 Jobs Over the Month Change Over the Month % Change Over the Year Change Over the Year % Change
West Virginia 757,600 2,100 0.3 -16,600 -2.1
Wyoming 292,900 -1,900 -0.6 200 0.1
Kansas 1,398,500 -3,800 -0.3 6,500 0.5
Nebraska 998,700 -4,800 -0.5 5,800 0.6
Louisiana 1,989,800 3,900 0.2 11,800 0.6
North Dakota 462,700 -5,300 -1.1 3,500 0.8
Virginia 3,808,600 5,900 0.2 29,900 0.8
Missouri 2,757,000 6,600 0.2 22,000 0.8
Maine 609,900 1,500 0.2 5,000 0.8
Oklahoma 1,661,600 -1,200 -0.1 15,100 0.9
Alaska 341,200 -100 0.0 3,200 0.9
New Mexico 827,900 -2,200 -0.3 8,300 1.0
Illinois 5,929,500 9,200 0.2 62,100 1.1
Montana 458,400 0 0.0 4,900 1.1
Mississippi 1,129,100 3,600 0.3 12,300 1.1
Pennsylvania 5,856,900 18,200 0.3 66,800 1.2
New Jersey 4,012,400 10,100 0.3 46,100 1.2
Vermont 312,900 -2,100 -0.7 4,000 1.3
Delaware 443,100 800 0.2 5,700 1.3
Hawaii 633,000 1,700 0.3 8,500 1.4
Wisconsin 2,877,300 -8,600 -0.3 38,700 1.4
Iowa 1,568,200 2,200 0.1 21,400 1.4
Rhode Island 484,700 3,400 0.7 6,700 1.4
Ohio 5,407,000 12,000 0.2 76,700 1.4
New York 9,219,300 42,700 0.5 134,600 1.5
Minnesota 2,851,900 -200 0.0 42,600 1.5
Alabama 1,948,100 6,500 0.3 30,000 1.6
Connecticut 1,691,800 6,400 0.4 26,100 1.6
District of Columbia 765,500 3,700 0.5 13,100 1.7
South Dakota 430,400 1,100 0.3 7,400 1.7
New Hampshire 657,100 4,800 0.7 11,400 1.8
Maryland 2,666,600 13,500 0.5 46,800 1.8
Tennessee 2,860,800 10,000 0.4 53,800 1.9
Arkansas 1,209,900 1,300 0.1 22,900 1.9
Massachusetts 3,477,800 7,400 0.2 70,600 2.1
Indiana 3,042,800 10,800 0.4 62,700 2.1
Kentucky 1,892,500 5,100 0.3 39,300 2.1
South Carolina 1,991,900 -4,900 -0.2 46,600 2.4
Arizona 2,613,800 600 0.0 62,200 2.4
Texas 11,788,700 33,200 0.3 286,400 2.5
Colorado 2,514,500 4,900 0.2 61,100 2.5
Michigan 4,277,800 25,700 0.6 107,200 2.6
North Carolina 4,243,200 10,400 0.2 108,800 2.6
Georgia 4,252,800 3,900 0.1 114,900 2.8
California 16,054,100 54,200 0.3 465,700 3.0
Oregon 1,767,500 -1,400 -0.1 53,400 3.1
Idaho 676,100 600 0.1 22,000 3.4
Nevada 1,254,300 8,000 0.6 41,500 3.4
Florida 8,059,100 17,100 0.2 268,500 3.4
Washington 3,169,300 7,700 0.2 111,600 3.6
Utah 1,374,600 3,300 0.2 51,400 3.9

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment data. May estimates are preliminary.
This table shows the same data for only private-sector employers:

State May 2015 Jobs Over the Month Change Over the Month % Change Over the Year Change Over the Year % Change
Alabama 1,568,300 4,800 0.3 27,100 1.8
Alaska 258,500 -700 -0.3 2,800 1.1
Arizona 2,206,800 7,100 0.3 57,500 2.7
Arkansas 996,500 1,400 0.1 23,200 2.4
California 13,618,500 55,700 0.4 434,400 3.3
Colorado 2,101,000 4,400 0.2 54,700 2.7
Connecticut 1,451,900 6,600 0.5 24,600 1.7
Delaware 378,600 900 0.2 5,900 1.6
District of Columbia 528,300 3,800 0.7 11,100 2.1
Florida 6,979,600 16,200 0.2 263,600 3.9
Georgia 3,571,800 11,700 0.3 118,600 3.4
Hawaii 509,300 2,800 0.6 9,800 2.0
Idaho 555,900 800 0.1 19,800 3.7
Illinois 5,101,800 6,900 0.1 61,000 1.2
Indiana 2,612,300 9,700 0.4 58,900 2.3
Iowa 1,311,200 3,000 0.2 18,500 1.4
Kansas 1,144,100 -1,500 -0.1 8,300 0.7
Kentucky 1,567,300 5,300 0.3 36,600 2.4
Louisiana 1,666,100 5,000 0.3 17,700 1.1
Maine 511,000 2,300 0.5 5,500 1.1
Maryland 2,157,200 10,800 0.5 40,400 1.9
Massachusetts 3,017,300 7,100 0.2 59,300 2.0
Michigan 3,681,600 24,300 0.7 105,700 3.0
Minnesota 2,433,500 -500 0.0 41,700 1.7
Mississippi 881,900 2,400 0.3 9,200 1.1
Missouri 2,324,000 7,200 0.3 21,400 0.9
Montana 370,000 400 0.1 6,000 1.6
Nebraska 826,000 -4,300 -0.5 3,000 0.4
Nevada 1,102,100 9,500 0.9 41,500 3.9
New Hampshire 567,900 5,100 0.9 10,700 1.9
New Jersey 3,388,800 12,200 0.4 42,400 1.3
New Mexico 636,100 -1,100 -0.2 8,500 1.4
New York 7,783,800 47,400 0.6 134,000 1.8
North Carolina 3,527,200 8,900 0.3 109,400 3.2
North Dakota 381,200 -5,200 -1.3 2,500 0.7
Ohio 4,651,100 13,300 0.3 81,200 1.8
Oklahoma 1,311,800 -2,400 -0.2 12,600 1.0
Oregon 1,469,800 -1,100 -0.1 48,000 3.4
Pennsylvania 5,150,500 16,900 0.3 73,100 1.4
Rhode Island 424,900 3,700 0.9 7,200 1.7
South Carolina 1,631,700 -4,700 -0.3 42,400 2.7
South Dakota 352,200 1,200 0.3 7,000 2.0
Tennessee 2,435,600 10,300 0.4 53,800 2.3
Texas 9,941,000 25,700 0.3 262,500 2.7
Utah 1,140,400 100 0.0 48,800 4.5
Vermont 258,000 -300 -0.1 4,400 1.7
Virginia 3,100,500 5,400 0.2 27,700 0.9
Washington 2,608,800 8,400 0.3 100,400 4.0
West Virginia 604,400 2,500 0.4 -5,700 -0.9
Wisconsin 2,466,900 -6,100 -0.2 38,200 1.6
Wyoming 220,900 -1,900 -0.9 -400 -0.2

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, private sector seasonally-adjusted data. May estimates are preliminary.
Mike Maciag is Data Editor for GOVERNING.
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