Labor Day weekend is the perfect time to ask the question: So what is it like to work for a living in New Hampshire in 2019?
And the answer by virtually every economic measure is, “Pretty darn good.”
New Hampshire consistently competes with Vermont and North Dakota for the lowest unemployment rate in the U.S. Currently it’s at 2.5 percent, or 32 percent below the national average. As good as that is, a more significant stat might be the fact that a record number of Granite Staters (751,150) are working.
Greg Moore at Americans For Prosperity notes another impressive number: “New Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that NH labor force participation ticked up again, to 68.6%, easily the highest in the Northeast (almost a full % higher than MA) and highest among any Top 10 per capita $ states,” he tweeted.
In fact, as David Juvet of New Hampshire’s Business and Industry Association said recently, “there are 20,000 jobs waiting to be filled, with no one to fill them.”
And it’s paying off for workers and their families. New Hampshire’s $73,381 median household income is the sixth-highest in the U.S. Commissioner Taylor Caswell of the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs sees more good news on the horizon:
“On that status of today’s labor force, it was big news recently that New Hampshire was among the top 10 states for millennial population growth,” he told NHJournal. “This is a big deal in my view, and it shows how effective the message of the combination of hot economy, available jobs, and high quality of life is really resonating with our target demographic.”