Minnesota led the 50 states on Gallup's Job Creation Index with an average score in 2015 of +38, based on workers' reports of hiring activity at their place of employment.
Most states' scores went up in 2015, but many energy-producing states fell,
Gallup reported.
Georgia and Utah were next at +36. North Dakota, which had been the top overall state each of the last six years, remains in the top 10.
The remainder of the top-performing states include Delaware, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon and Wisconsin. The five states tying for 10th place are Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Washington.
In 2015, an average of 46% of working Minnesotans said their place of employment was hiring workers and expanding the size of its workforce, compared with 8% who said their employer was letting workers go and reducing the size of its workforce. This results in a Job Creation Index score of +38 for Minnesota. Nationally, the average score for 2015 was +30 (42% hiring, 12% letting go).
Alaska had the lowest Job Creation Index score in 2015 at +12, with 31% of working Alaskans saying their employer was hiring workers and 19% saying it was letting workers go.
Many of the bottom 10 states are reliant on energy production to support their states' economies, which are beginning to suffer as a result of low gas prices over the past 16 months.
Results for the poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Jan. 1-Dec. 31, with a random sample of 203,484 employed adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
To be sure, job openings increased in November, giving more Americans the confidence to quit and find work at another employer.
The number of positions waiting to be filled rose by 82,000 to 5.43 million, from a revised 5.35 million in the prior month, a report from the Labor Department showed earlier this month. Hiring also climbed and the most people since April 2008 leave their jobs.
“Labor market fluidity is increasing,” said Thomas Costerg, a senior U.S. economist at Standard Chartered Bank in New York, told
Bloomberg. “More people are taking risks. People are happy to put their necks out to look around and get a new job. There’s less slack to work through.”
Elevated vacancies and subdued dismissals represent robust demand for labor that may eventually lead to faster wage growth. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey projected 5.45 million openings after a previously reported 5.38 million the month before.
The
Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, adds context to monthly payrolls data by measuring dynamics such as resignations, help-wanted ads and the pace of hiring. Although it lags the Labor Department’s other jobs figures by a month, the Fed follows the report as a measure of labor-market tightness and worker confidence.
© 2023 Newsmax Finance. All rights reserved.