How Did Your State Rank in Jobs in 2012?

From blackbookmag "The best and worst state flags"

How Did Your State Do in 2012?   

Below are preliminary state rankings in jobs and employment for 2012.

These are preliminary numbers which will be modified next week Friday (March 1st) when state benchmark revisions are released.  I have not yet added unemployment rates or changes in unemployment rates to these lists, so watch for that information as well.    

"Jobs" are the number of jobs reported by non-farm employers in a given state.  

"Employment" is the number of people who have reported themselves as employed in a state.  "Employed" includes people who are self-employed, people working on farms, as well as people who are employed by payroll-tax- paying employers. 

"Jobs" are counted according to the state in which the job is located; "Numbers employed" are counted according to the state in which the employee resides.  Therefore, if a person lives in Indiana but commutes to Illinois for work, he/she is counted as "employed" in Indiana, but his/her "job" is counted in Illinois.  This explains some of the discrepancies between employment and jobs numbers.  (Also, people working two jobs are counted as one "employed" person but two "jobs", as both of their employers will count them as an employee.)    

North Dakota, for instance, continues to lead in job growth, but it is only 19th in growth in number of people employed--  We can theorize that many of the new jobs in North Dakota went to people who are living elsewhere, and, for now, either commuting or only living temporarily in North Dakota.  Over all, there are more jobs (421,000) than there are people who say they are employed living in North Dakota (380,000).  

The top ten states by job growth (as a percent) in 2012:

1. North Dakota (+3.6% increase in jobs)
2. Utah (+3.0%)
3. Arizona (+2.7%)
4. Montana (+2.6%)
5. Texas (+2.5%)
6. Colorado (+2.3%)
7. Oklahoma (+2.3%)
8. Idaho (+2.2%)
9. South Carolina (+2.1%)
10. Indiana (+2.0%)

The top ten states by employment growth (as a percent) in 2012:

1. Oklahoma (+3.4% increase in number of people employed)
2. Utah (+3.1%)
3. North Carolina (+2.9%)
4. Florida (+2.6%)
5. Louisiana (+2.6%)
6. Pennsylvania (+2.4%)
7. Texas (+2.4%)
8. Georgia (+2.3%)
9. Kentucky (+2.1%)
10. Illinois (+2.0%)

The bottom ten states for jobs growth (as a percent) in 2012:

• 50.  West Virginia (-1.8% decrease in jobs)
• 49.  New Mexico (-0.4%)
• 48.  Wyoming (-0.2%)
• 47.  New Hampshire (-0.03%)
• 46.  Maine (-0.02%)
• 45.  Connecticut (-0.01%)
• 44.  Rhode Island (+0.2% increase in jobs)
• 43.  South Dakota (+0.3%)
• 42.  Mississippi (+0.3%)
• 41.  Michigan (+0.3%)      

The bottom ten states for employment growth (as a percent) in 2012:

• 50.  Connecticut (-2.9% decrease in number employed)
• 49.  Oregon (-1.2%)
• 48.  Arkansas (-1.0%)
• 47.  Indiana (-1.0%)
• 46.  Iowa (-0.9%)
• 45.  Hawaii (-0.9%)
• 44.  Alaska (-0.8%)
• 43.  Vermont (-0.7%)
• 42.  South Dakota (-0.7%)
• 41.  New Hampshire (-0.6%)      

  
                                Employment Growth Rank         Job Growth Rank

	Rank Employment Growth	Incr/decr ...#Employed	% Incr/decr ...#Employed	Rank Job .,.Growth	...Incr/decr #Jobs	...%Incr/decr #Jobs
Alabama	30	7.2	0.36%	38	10.2	0.55%
Alaska	44	-2.6	-0.76%	37	1.8	0.55%
Arizona	18	32.7	1.19%	3	64.3	2.66%
Arkansas	48	-12.6	-0.99%	35	7.7	0.66%
California	15	248.5	1.51%	20	225.9	1.59%
Colorado	37	-1.1	-0.04%	6	51.3	2.26%
Connecticut	50	-50.2	-2.85%	45	-0.1	-0.01%
Delaware	29	1.5	0.37%	39	1.5	0.36%
Florida	4	217.7	2.60%	32	54.9	0.75%
Georgia	8	95.9	2.23%	13	74.1	1.90%
Hawaii	45	-5.3	-0.86%	11	11.9	1.99%
Idaho	11	13.3	1.87%	8	13.3	2.18%
Illinois	10	121.6	2.04%	33	41.9	0.74%
Indiana	47	-28.8	-0.98%	10	57.2	2.01%
Iowa	46	-14.7	-0.93%	29	14.4	0.97%
Kansas	40	-6.5	-0.46%	27	14.9	1.12%
Kentucky	9	38.7	2.06%	18	29	1.61%
Louisiana	5	49.8	2.60%	25	23.5	1.22%
Maine	39	-1.7	-0.26%	46	-0.1	-0.02%
Maryland	22	25.7	0.89%	31	21.1	0.82%
Massachusetts	27	20.5	0.64%	19	51.6	1.61%
Michigan	26	27.5	0.65%	41	12.9	0.33%
Minnesota	35	0.5	0.02%	12	51.9	1.93%
Mississippi	21	11.2	0.93%	42	3.5	0.32%
Missouri	34	1.6	0.06%	21	40.2	1.53%
Montana	14	7.5	1.58%	4	11.2	2.64%
Nebraska	12	17.1	1.76%	36	5.9	0.62%
Nevada	17	14.7	1.22%	17	18.7	1.65%
NewHampshire	41	-4.4	-0.63%	47	-0.2	-0.03%
New Jersey	31	13.1	0.31%	24	48	1.24%
New Mexico	16	11.4	1.32%	49	-3.3	-0.41%
New York	25	61.1	0.70%	22	123.6	1.42%
North Carolina	3	121.4	2.90%	14	72.4	1.84%
North Dakota	19	3.7	0.98%	1	14.5	3.56%
Ohio	23	45.1	0.85%	16	90.7	1.78%
Oklahoma	1	56.8	3.39%	7	35.2	2.25%
Oregon	49	-21.3	-1.17%	26	19.5	1.20%
Pennsylvania	6	143.5	2.43%	34	38.7	0.68%
Rhode Island	13	8.5	1.70%	44	0.9	0.20%
South Carolina	20	18.3	0.94%	9	38.7	2.10%
South Dakota	42	-2.9	-0.67%	43	1.2	0.29%
Tennessee	33	5.4	0.19%	23	36.4	1.36%
Texas	7	278.7	2.41%	5	260.8	2.45%
Utah	2	38.2	3.05%	2	37.1	3.03%
Vermont	43	-2.4	-0.70%	28	3.2	1.06%
Virginia	24	29.1	0.71%	30	31.3	0.85%
Washington	32	8.4	0.26%	15	51.7	1.82%
West Virginia	38	-1.3	-0.18%	50	-13.9	-1.83%
Wisconsin	28	15.4	0.54%	40	9.1	0.33%
Wyoming	36	-0.1	-0.03%	48	-0.6	-0.21%

Total Jobs Added in the United States in 2012: 

• 2,170,000.

Total Employment (Workers) Added in the United States in 2012:

• 1,714,000.  

How Many Government Jobs Lost or Added Under Obama? (Updated for December 2015)

How Many Government Jobs (Workers) Have Been Lost Since Obama Took Office?  

How Many Government Jobs (Workers) Have Been Gained Since Obama Took Office?  

From the time Obama took office (January 2009) until now, December 2015:

Total numbers of government jobs, which declined precipitously in 2011-2012, have stabilized and we have added about a hundred thousand government jobs this year. 

We have added about 17,000 FEDERAL government jobs in 2015.  (Federal jobs peaked during the presidency of George H W Bush, back in 1991 and 1992.)  We've added about 30,000 state government jobs in 2015, and about 40,000 local government jobs.  However, the number of "local government: Education" jobs (public elementary and secondary schools) has remained flat this year.  

Broken down by FEDERAL (Federal jobs numbers reported by the BLS do NOT count active military), STATE (state universities, state police, state administrators), and LOCAL (mostly teachers, also police, fire protection, city and county administrators).

Federal jobs, state jobs, local government jobs:

	Ttl Govt Jobs	Ttl Federal Jobs
# Jobs January 2009	22,579,000	2,786,000
# Jobs December 2015	22,001,000	2,749,000
Jobs gained/lost:	-578,000	-37,000

	Ttl State Govt Jobs	Ttl State Govt:  Educ.
# Jobs January 2009	5,206,000	2,382,800
# Jobs December 2015	5,113,000	2,464,800
Jobs gained/lost:	- 93,000	+82,000

	Ttl Local Govt Jobs	Ttl Local Govt: Educ.
# Jobs January 2009	14,587,000	8,084,000
# Jobs April 2015	14,139,000	7,789,300
Jobs gained/lost:	-448,000	-294,700

As mentioned above, the number of federal jobs has increased slightly this year.  Federal jobs peaked in the early 1990's, and we have about the same number of federal jobs now as we had in the mid 2000's and, before that, in the mid 1960's.

The number of state jobs has started to increase this year after decreasing for about 4-5 years. The number of state education jobs (public state universities) continues to increase slightly and has been at a peak this year. 

The total number of local jobs (counties, cities, towns, villages) declined for the past 5 years, but the decline stopped in mid 2013, and we have seen increases in 2014 and 2015.  Local education jobs (think public schools and community colleges) declined for 4 years, but experienced small increases in 2013 through early 2015.  It has declined slightly in the last half of 2015.  This sector, which is the largest government jobs sector, experienced the largest decline in jobs during the recession, and is down about 3.7% from the time that Obama was inaugurated.

How Many Jobs Lost or Added Since Last State of Union? (January 2012 to January 2013)

How Many New Jobs Were Created or Lost Since the Last State of the Union (SOTU) Address?  (January 2012 to January 2013)?  State of the Union 2013 Address ...

Here are the latest numbers with all revisions:

	Total Jobs	Private Jobs	Government Jobs
# Jobs January 2012	132,809,000	110,871,000	21,938,000
# Jobs January 2013	134,825,000	112,961,000	21,864,000
Jobs gained/lost Jan. - Jan.	+2,016,000	+2,090,000	-74,000

	Ttl Employed	Ttl Unemployed	Labor Force
# January 2012	139,944,000	12,748,000	154,356,000
#  January 2013	141,614,000	12,332,000	155,654,000
Gained/lost Jan. - Jan.	+1,670,000	-416,000	+1,298,000

Sources:  

• Total Jobs:                   BLS Total jobs graph and numbers
• Private Jobs:                BLS Private Jobs Graphs and Numbers
• Government Jobs:         BLS Government Jobs Graphs and Numbers
• Total Employed:           BLS Employed Graphs and Numbers  
• Total Unemployed:        BLS Unemployed Graphs and Numbers
• Civilian Labor Force:      BLS Civilian Labor Force Graphs and Numbers

Dow-Jones Industrial Average:  January 27, 2012:    12675.75 
                                             February 12, 2013:  14018.70   

How Many Jobs Were Created or Lost in January 2013?

157,000 new jobs were CREATED or ADDED in the month of January 2013.

The private sector generated 166,000 new jobs, but the government sector continued to shed jobs, 9,000 jobs, in January 2013.

17,000 more people reported themselves as working in January 2013. 

          Latest (February 2013 & earlier) reports HERE!

The unemployment rate increased slightly to 7.9% in January 2013.  The unemployment rate exceeded or equaled 8.0% for 8 months during 2012.   The unemployment rate stayed the same despite more jobs and more people employed because more people entered the labor force and started looking for jobs.  This is a positive trend.

What Was the Unemployment Rate When Obama Took Office? (January 2013 update)

March 2013 reports will be released Friday, April 5th.  Check back then!

Please click HERE for all published jobs reports and updates for 2011, 2012, and 2013 to date. 

What was the unemployment rate when Bush left office and Obama was inaugurated? 7.8%

What was the unemployment rate after Obama's first full month in office (February 2009)?  8.3%

What was the unemployment rate at peak?  10.0%

What is today's (January 2013's) unemployment rate?   7.9%

All January 2013 Jobs News Highlights Indexed HERE

All Latest Jobs and Unemployment Reports HERE

How many people were looking for work when Obama was inaugurated; how many were working?  And how many people are looking for work and how many are employed now?

• Read below the graph.

• 
  The following chart shows the unemployment rate in three month intervals plus month-by-month for the latest three months:  

Why are there two lines, one for "Seas Adjusted" and one for "Unadjusted"?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics uses seasonal adjustments to adjust for the volatility in the labor market from one month to the next.  The relatively even red line above shows the unemployment rate based on seasonally adjusted numbers.  The jagged green line shows the unemployment rate based on "real", "raw" numbers; the unadjusted rate.  Notice that the green line goes up in January (after holiday layoffs) and July (school-related layoffs), and it goes down in October and April, which are strong months for workers.  (Employees are all back to school in October, and employers are staffing up for the holidays.  Schools are also full in April and employers are starting to staff up for summer, construction, vacation venues, etc.)  The red line helps us to compare the unemployment rate over a period of months; the green line, however, reflects "reality":  Your friends, neighbors, and family members actually working or not working.  

How Many Jobs Were Created or Lost in December 2012?

196,000 new jobs were CREATED or ADDED in the month of December 2012.  (This is a revised number.)

The private sector generated 202,000 new jobs, but the government sector continued to shed jobs, 6,000 jobs, in December 2012.

28,000 more people reported themselves as working in December 2012. 

          Latest (January 2013 & earlier) reports HERE!

The unemployment rate stayed the same at 7.8% December 2012.  The unemployment rate exceeded or equaled 8.0% for 8 months this year.  The last time that the unemployment rate was at or below 7.8% was January 2009.  The unemployment rate stayed the same despite more jobs and more people employed because more people entered the labor force and started looking for jobs.  This is a positive trend.

How Many Jobs Were Created in 2012?

How Many New Jobs Were Created or Lost Last Year in 2012?

Here are the latest numbers with all revisions:

	Total Jobs	Private Jobs	Government Jobs
# Jobs end of 2011	132,498,000	110,548,000	21,950,000
# Jobs end of 2012	134,691,000	112,812,000	21,874,000
Jobs gained/lost during 2012	+2,193,000	+2,264,000	-76,000

Sources:  

• Total Jobs:  BLS Total jobs graph and numbers
• Private Jobs:  BLS Private Jobs Graphs and Numbers
• Government Jobs:  BLS Government Jobs Graphs and Numbers

Private & Government Jobs Gained & Lost Under Obama (January 2013 update)

JUNE 2013 BLS Jobs Numbers and Unemployment Rate were released today, Friday, July 5th.  Details and links HERE!!

This report has been updated for JUNE 2013 HERE!!

How many jobs (total, private, and government) have been lost or gained since Obama was inaugurated?  

• 4,311,000 TOTAL jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST in from the time Obama took office until the "trough" of the recession in early 2010.  That's a decrease of 3.2%.    
• 5,505,000 jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were CREATED from the "trough" of the recession until now, January 2013.  That's an increase of 4.3%.
• In total, 1,194,000  jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were ADDED from the time Obama took office until now, January 2013.  That's an increase of 0.9%.
• We have experienced 28 months WITHOUT job losses since September 2010.  We have ADDED 4,897,000 jobs during those 28 months. 
• We now have 134, 825,000 TOTAL non-farm jobs. 

*  These are all net figures, meaning that they represent the total number of jobs at the end of a reporting period.  All losses have been subtracted from all gains and vice verse.

*  For the purposes of comparison, jobs are being added at a faster clip under Obama than under George Bush at the same time in his presidency.  At this point in Bush's presidency (January 2005), there were still 150xx,000 FEWER jobs than when he was inaugurated in January 2001 (compared to 84xx6,000 MORE for Obama).  The number of jobs didn't eclipse the number when Bush was first inaugurated until February 2005, in Bush's second term.    

How Many Jobs Lost or Added Under Obama? (January 2013 update)

How Many Jobs Were Created or Added in 2012?

January 2013 Jobs News Highlights
804,000 More Jobs!
Labor Force Participation: Separating the Truth From Lies

How many PRIVATE sector jobs have been lost or gained since Obama was inaugurated?

• 4,198,000 PRIVATE-sector jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST from the time Obama took office until the "trough" of the recession in early 2010.  That's a decrease of 3.8%.
• 6,111,000 PRIVATE-sector jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were GAINED OR CREATED from the "trough" of the recession until now, January 2013.  That's an increase of 5.7%.
• In total, 1,913,000 private sector jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) have been GAINED from the time Obama took office until now, January 2013.  That's a net increase of 1.7%. *
• We have experienced 35 months of positive private-sector job GROWTH from February 2010 until January 2013.  We have added 6,111,000 private-sector jobs during those 35 months.    
• We now have 112,961,000  PRIVATE sector non-farm jobs.

*As of January 2013,  jobs are being added at a faster clip under Obama than under George Bush at the same time in his presidency.  At this point in Bush's presidency (January 2005), there were still 946,000 FEWER private sector jobs than when he was inaugurated in January 2001 (compared to 1,913,000 MORE for Obama).  The number of private-sector jobs didn't eclipse the number when Bush was first inaugurated until June 2005, in Bush's second term.  

How many GOVERNMENT jobs have been lost or gained since Obama was inaugurated?  (Government jobs include federal, state, and local government jobs.)

• 113,000 GOVERNMENT jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST from the time Obama took office until the "trough" of the recession in early 2010.  That's a decrease of  .5%  (about half of a percent). 
• Another 606,000 GOVERNMENT jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST from the "trough" of the recession until now, January 2013.  That's a decrease of 2.7%.    
• In total, 719,000 GOVERNMENT jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST from the time Obama took office until now, January 2012.  That's a decrease of 3.2%.  A large portion of these jobs, at least 350,000, have been lost in the "Local Government - Education" sector. (Teachers.)
• We have experienced decreases in the number of government jobs in 25 out of the last 31 months, starting in June 2010, when the layoff of 2010 Census workers began.  However, we have experienced slight increases in the number of government jobs in the last 3 out of the last 7 months.     
• We now have 21,864,000 GOVERNMENT jobs, not including people in the military.  (Civilians employed by the U.S. and working for the military are counted.)

(Note:  Current numbers taken from the June Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation Report.  Historical numbers taken from various archived Employment Situation reports as indexed HERE. Specifics will be provided upon request; please email me or leave a comment.)

An afterthought---

A reader asks:

How Many Private Sector Jobs Were Lost Because of Obama?

We haven't lost ANY private sector jobs (net) since February 2010, a year after Obama took office.  Between January 2009 and February 2010, we lost 4,198,000 private sector jobs as stated above.

Should we "blame" Obama for not being immediately able to stem the tide of private sector job loss in 2009?  If a house is burning out of control and the fire department comes to put out the fire, it continues to burn until it is brought under control and cooled down, right?  Now.. would you blame the fire department for the continued fire and the time to put it out after the firefighters arrive on the scene?

Well, you might, but I wouldn't:  Here's my reasoning:  Burning Down the House!

So my answer to this question would be a big, fat ZERO.  I do NOT feel that Obama is to blame for any loss of jobs between January 2009 and February 2010.  If you think he is, please leave a comment and explain!