Western Blue Chip Current Update

April 21, 2023

The states included in the Western Blue Chip Economic Forecast are Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

 

WESTERN STATES SET GROWTH PACE IN POST-PANDEMIC RECOVERY

Idaho Posted Most Rapid Growth, Texas Added Most New Jobs In Past Three Years

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released revised 2021 and 2022 employment growth figures for states, allowing for an updated review of performance in the post-pandemic recovery.  Nonfarm employment for the U.S. grew 2.0% between February 2020 and February 2023, as national employment cratered and then recovered.  Compared to employment in February 2020, three years later the nation has added some 3 million new jobs.  The most rapid employment growth rate was recorded in the Western state of Idaho (9.4%).  Texas, also a Western state,  added the greatest absolute number of new jobs (851,200) in the past three years.

 

States Ranked by Percentage Change in Employment

(February 2020 – February 2023)

 

Rank State Percentage Change Employment Change
  United States 2.0% 2,988,000
1 IDAHO 9.4% 71,900
2 UTAH 8.5% 133,700
3 TEXAS 6.6% 851,200
4 NEVADA 6.5% 92,900
5 Florida 6.4% 581,300
6 MONTANA 6.1% 29,000
7 North Carolina 5.6% 257,200
8 Tennessee 5.1% 158,600
9 ARIZONA 4.9% 146,300
10 Arkansas 4.5% 58,000
11 Georgia 4.4% 205,300
12 South Carolina 4.1% 88,500
13 South Dakota 3.8% 16,500
14 WASHINGTON 3.0% 102,700
15 Alabama 2.7% 56,300
16 Delaware 2.7% 12,200
17 COLORADO 2.4% 68,100
18 Indiana 2.4% 74,600
19 Kentucky 2.2% 42,600
20 New Jersey 2.0% 82,800
21 CALIFORNIA 1.5% 262,400
22 Missouri 1.5% 43,000
23 Kansas 1.4% 20,500
24 Mississippi 1.4% 16,600
25 Oklahoma 1.4% 23,900
26 New Hampshire 1.3% 9,100
27 Nebraska 1.3% 13,100
28 Virginia 1.2% 46,800
29 Maine 0.8% 5,200
30 OREGON 0.8% 14,900
31 NEW MEXICO 0.2% 1,700
32 Iowa 0.2% 2,500
33 Pennsylvania 0.1% 6,800
34 WYOMING 0.1% 300
35 Wisconsin 0.1% 1,700
36 Massachusetts -0.2% -6,600
37 Alaska -0.2% -700
38 Illinois -0.3% -18,200
39 Ohio -0.5% -28,500
40 Minnesota -0.6% -17,200
41 Connecticut -0.6% -10,300
42 Michigan -0.7% -31,400
43 North Dakota -1.1% -4,700
44 New York -1.7% -165,300
45 West Virginia -1.8% -12,300
46 Maryland -1.8% -50,500
47 Rhode Island -1.9% -9,700
48 Louisiana -2.4% -47,200
49 Vermont -2.9% -9,100
50 Hawaii -4.5% -30,000

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Seidman’s Job Growth USA

 

Six of the top ten fastest growing states were in the West (shown capitalized in the accompanying table), including the top four most rapidly growing states.  Overall, there were 19 states that grew faster than the national average of 2.0%, and eight of these were in the West.  Meanwhile, 15 states (shown at the bottom of the table) have not yet returned to the level of employment posted in the pre-pandemic month of February 2020.  Hawaii has had the weakest recovery.  As of February 2023, the state remains 4.5% below the employment of February 2020.

 

The top ten rankings for employment growth measured by number of jobs added since February 2020 included seven states that were also among the ten fastest growing (Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, Tennessee, Utah, and Nevada).  Six of the top ten adding the most jobs were again from the West.

 

Top Ten States by Numeric Increase in Employment

(February 2020 – February 2023)

 

Rank State Employment Change
1 TEXAS 851,200
2 Florida 581,300
3 CALIFORNIA 262,400
4 North Carolina 257,200
5 Georgia 205,300
6 Tennessee 158,600
7 ARIZONA 146,300
8 UTAH 133,700
9 WASHINGTON 102,700
10 NEVADA 92,900
  Total 2,791,600

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Seidman’s Job Growth USA

Overall, the top ten states adding the most new jobs accounted for a major proportion of all new jobs (93%) created in the economy between February 2020 and February 2023.  All Western states added 1.8 million jobs to employment rolls compared to February 2020.  Total jobs created in the West accounted for more than one half (59%) of all jobs recovered in the period from February 2020 through February 2023.