Portfolio.com Reveals National Private Sector Employment Trends

NEW YORK, July 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Portfolio.com, the national business news site for small and mid-sized business (SMB) executives, today unveiled results from a five year review of state employment trends conducted with American City Business Journals.  The review analyzed private-sector short- and long-term employment patterns across the country, using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data from the past five years with the objective to determine the relative economic strength of the nation's 50 states and the District of Columbia.  

"The economic recession hit the nation hard and the number of unemployed Americans in major states like California and Nevada has been on the rise. We hope that this study will provide helpful information for individuals on locations that offer the most job opportunities," said J. Jennings Moss, editor of Portfolio.com.

Overall, the review found that the recent-half decade took a toll on most parts of the country.  Forty states had fewer jobs in May 2010 than five years earlier and the nation lost a total of 4.51 million private-sector positions between mid-2005 and mid-2010.  

North Dakota topped the list with the nation's strongest economy at the moment, followed by Alaska in second place, due to an expansion in their employment bases, adding 21,3000 jobs  and 10,100 jobs from 2005 to 2010, respectively. The study found that states located across the nation's heartland, like South Dakota (fourth place), Nebraska (sixth), and Utah (tenth), were less affected by the severity of the economic recession, likely attributed to affordable housing.  The other leaders – the District of Columbia (fifth), New York (eighth) and New Hampshire (ninth) – come from the Northeast, which has weathered the recession with greater ease than the Sunbelt.

On the other end of the ranking, Nevada, California and Florida have the nation's weakest economies, a stunning reversal from half a decade ago when Nevada and Florida finished first and second, respectively, and California in 11th place in 2005's mid year review. Collectively, Nevada, California and Florida have lost 1.69 million jobs since 2005 and have double-digit unemployment rates.  

"Several factors turned these three states into laggards during the past five years, notably the deflation of their hyperextended real-estate bubbles and a sharp downturn in tourism," said G. Scott Thomas, a nationally-recognized demographer who creates the analyses for Portfolio.com.

Other states hovering at the bottom of the list include Michigan (48th place), Rhode Island (47th) Georgia (46th), Ohio (45th) and Arizona (44th).  Their declines were attributed to varying combinations of real-estate woes, slowdowns in construction and tourism sectors, and slippage in manufacturing output, especially within the auto industry.

"The employment bases of these bottom states have eroded at an alarming pace.  California's loss of 950,300 private-sector jobs since 2005 is the equivalent of losing 520 jobs every day for five years.  For Florida, it equals 350 jobs per day and Michigan's is 280 per day," added Thomas.

About Portfolio.com

Portfolio.com is the national business news site for small and mid-sized business executives. Comprising original, in-depth reporting, thought-provoking insights, colorful features, exclusive analysis of custom research, and an intelligent business-news filtering tool, Portfolio.com is the first national business media outlet dedicated solely to delivering actionable news and information to this coveted audience. Portfolio.com relaunched in December 2009 as the information destination for business executives, insiders and strategists within the growing and profitable American City Business Journals.

About American City Business Journals

American City Business Journals engages 13.5 million decision makers each month through the company's 40 newsweeklies, 42 Web sites, digital newsletters and more than 400 local events across the country. It is the largest publisher of business-to-business information in the United States. More than 4 million readers each week engage with exclusive, in-depth coverage of local business communities; some 9 million unique monthly users engage with the company's digital content; more than 11 million e-newsletters are delivered each month via email; and the company sees more than 1 million mobile page views each month. American City is a unit of Advance Publications Inc., which also operates Conde Nast Magazines, Parade magazine, Fairchild Publications, the Golf Digest companies, Newhouse Newspapers and cable television interests.

SOURCE Portfolio.com