08.22.11

Hoeven: Gallup Job Creation Index Ranks North Dakota as top Job Market in Nation

Second Gallup Survey Ranks North Dakota Second in Well-Being

WASHINGTON – Gallup’s recently completed Job Creation Index has ranked North Dakota as the top job market in the country for the first half of 2011. North Dakota has ranked in the top 10 for over three-and-a-half years, from January 2008 to June 2011. Senator John Hoeven today pointed to the poll’s findings to underscore the importance of a good business climate and aggressive energy policy, which he said can produce jobs and economic growth, not just for the states that have pushed energy development, but for the entire nation. 

“A common denominator here for successful job growth and economic activity is a good business environment and robust energy policy,” Hoeven said.  “For example, we promoted energy development in North Dakota by providing the legal, tax and regulatory certainty that energy producers needed to invest in the industry, and most importantly, create jobs. That’s exactly what we need to do as a nation.” 

The findings are based on nearly 100,000 interviews with employed adults during the first half of 2011 and conducted as part of Gallup’s Daily Tracking Poll. Interviewees were asked whether their companies are hiring workers and expanding the size of their labor forces, not changing the size of their workforces, or laying off workers and reducing their workforces. The results are the net difference between the percentage reporting an expansion and the percentage reporting a reduction in their workforces. 

Another ranking, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, ranks North Dakota second in overall health wellness. These state-level rankings are meant to provide a preliminary reading on the well-being of U.S. states in anticipation of the complete 2011 rankings, to be released early next year. North Dakota's Well-Being Index composite score has moved up proportionally more than any other state since last year.

The Well-Being Index score for the nation and for each state is an average of six sub-indexes, which individually examine life evaluation, emotional health, work environment, physical health, healthy behaviors, and access to basic necessities. The January through June 2011 aggregate includes more than 177,000 interviews conducted among national adults, aged 18 and older. 

The Well-Being Index is calculated on a scale of 0 to 100, where a score of 100 would represent ideal well-being. The midyear Well-Being Index score for North Dakota is 70.5, just behind top-ranking Hawaii and ahead of Alaska, Nebraska and Minnesota, to round out the top five states. The ranking for the country so far in 2011 is 66.4, a slight decline from 66.8 for all of 2010.

The Gallup Job Creation Index can be found here. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index can be found here.