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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?

Tennessee (-0.2 percent)

Dan Henry/Chatanooga Times Free Press/AP/File
Donna Van Natten, with The Enterprise Center, left, and Valoria Armstrong with the Tennessee American Water Co. converse during a job fair being held at the Urban League in Chattanooga, Tenn. in April. Tennessee's job growth took the biggest year over year step back, largely due to government layoffs and a swelling workforce.

Civilian labor force population: 3,133,600

May 2013 unemployment rate: 8.3 percent

Tennessee’s unemployment rate has trickled up slightly every month this year, with most of the losses coming from layoffs in the public sector, according to the state’s economists. Government employment dropped 1.4 percent year over year.  Another contributing factor:  the state’s labor force swelled to a record high in May.

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