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States with the best (and worst) job growth

Some states have fared much better than others in reducing their unemployment rates in the past year. Can you guess which boom state was among those that backtracked?

1. California (+2.1 percent)

Robert Galbraith/Reuters/File
Job seekers wait to speak to a representative for positions at a new Target store in San Francisco, California last summer. California's job market has made the biggest gains of any state over the the past year, though conditions vary greatly from region to region.

Civilian labor force population: 18,643,300

May 2013 unemployment rate: 8.6 percent

May marked the first time in nearly five years that California’s jobless rate dropped below 9 percent.  Along with Virginia, California’s unemployment rate boasted the largest monthly decline (dropping 0.4 percentage points) of all states in May. The biggest gains were in the leisure and hospitality sector, with manufacturing, trade, financial activities, professional services, government, and education and health sectors also adding workers.

 Still, the jobs picture varies greatly among different regions of the state. Northern California has fared well – costal Marin County has a state-low 4.5 percent unemployment.  Imperial county, in the southeast, has the state high, at 22.8 percent.

Read on for the states where job growth has lagged, or gone backwards:

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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