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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?

2. North Dakota (-0.2 percent)

Jim Urquhart/Reuters/File
A mixture of oil, diesel fuel, water and mud sprays as roughnecks wrestle pipe on a True Company oil drilling rig outside Watford, N.D. last year. North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate in the country, but its job market backtracked a bit year over year.

Civilian Labor Force population: 400,800

May 2013 unemployment rate: 3.2 percent

North Dakota boasts the lowest unemployment rate in the country, and the state’s recent oil boom led to a nation-leading rate of job growth in 2011 and 2012. A slowdown was all but inevitable, but gains in constriction and the service industry have kept the acceleration from falling off a cliff. 

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