North Dakota Leads The Way in Adding Jobs

A study of state employment trends by Portfolio.com and bizjournals reveals North Dakota and Alaska have added the most jobs over the last five years and one-time economic powerhouses—Nevada, California, Florida—are now the bottom three.

Nevada and Florida ranked 1^st and 2^nd, respectively, five years ago in the number of jobs added, but are now 51^st and 49^th (which includes D.C)in the rankings. California, which ranked 11^th five years ago, is now 50^th.

The report says Nevada, California and Florida lost a combined 1.69 million jobs since 2005. The major culprits for the declines are the bursting of the real estate bubble and a drastic downturn in tourism.

North Dakota added 21,300 jobs from 2005 to 2010, a 7.8 percent increase in employment, and Alaska gained 4.4 percent with 10,100 new jobs.

The report is based on data provides by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It finds that forty states had fewer jobs in May 2010 than five years earlier and as a whole the nation lost 4.51 million private sector jobs during that time.