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 Q2 2022. 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 2022 Q2: top 10
According to the latest state job growth rankings, Maine saw the biggest increase in job creation in Q2 2022. This refers to jobs gained represented as a percentage of the state’s total employment. In the second quarter of last year, Maine added 17.7% more jobs—more than double its growth rates from the previous four quarters, which came in at between 7.5% and 8.2%.
This is followed by Alaska, which gained 10.1% more jobs. Maine and Alaska are the only two states that saw job growth increase by more than 10% in Q2 2022.
Third on the list ranking job growth rate by state is Wyoming, with 8.4%. Montana and Florida round out the five states with the highest job growth in Q2 2022, with 8.2% and 7.5%, respectively.
Here are numbers six to 10 on this ranking of job growth by state:
- Colorado: 7.3%
- Vermont: 7.3%
- Idaho: 7.1%
- New York: 7.1%
- Rhode Island: 7%
State job growth rankings 2022 Q2: bottom 10
Looking at the bottom end of the list ranking job growth by state, we see that Michigan and Nebraska added 6% more jobs to their economies in Q2 2022. This makes them the states with the 41st and 42nd biggest job growth.
Hawaii, Illinois, and Wisconsin follow, each with job growth rates of 5.9%. Iowa and Ohio rank next, having created 5.8% and 5.7% more jobs, respectively. Both Arkansas and Indiana increased their employment by 5.6% each. Pennsylvania is the state with the lowest job growth, with 5.5%—less than one-third of Maine’s.
It’s worth noting that all of these bottom 10 states saw their job growth rates slow in Q2 2022, when compared to Q1 2022.