A study by personal finance company Wallet Hub finds all 10 states with the worst job growth have policies led by Democrat governors. All states with the best job growth are Republican-led states, except for Kansas (Kansas has a supermajority Republican legislature).
The personal finance company looked at the change in unemployment to rank the 50 states and Washington, D.C., for labor market improvement. Nine of the top 10 performing states are led by Republican governors:
- Vermont — Gov. Phil Scott (R)
- Utah — Gov. Spencer Cox (R)
- Nebraska — Gov. Pete Ricketts (R)
- South Dakota — Gov. Kristi Noem (R)
- Idaho — Gov. Brad Little (R)
- New Hampshire — Gov. Chris Sununu (R)
- Alabama — Gov. Kay Ivey (R)
- Kansas — Gov. Laura Kelly (D)
- Montana — Gov. Greg Gianforte (R
- Oklahoma — Gov. Kevin Stitt (R)
All of the bottom 10 states are led by Democrats:
- Illinois — Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D)
- New Jersey — Gov. Phil Murphy (D)\
- Louisiana — Gov. John Bel Edwards (D
- District of Columbia — Mayor Muriel Bowser (D)
- California — Gov. Gavin Newsom (D)
- Connecticut — Gov. Ned Lamont (D)
- Nevada — Gov. Steve Sisolak (D
- New York — Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D)
- New Mexico — Gov. Michelle Grisham (D)
- Hawaii — Gov. David Ige (D)
Missouri comes in at 18.
As the nation recovers from COVID-19 and the lockdown-induced recession, unusually high unemployment is challenging employers, a trend driven by enhanced federal unemployment insurance. States that continue to participate in the handouts are observing particularly slow job growth.
One recent report found that many states are offering benefit packages equivalent to $100,000 a year in salary for a family of four with two unemployed parents. Even without considering “food stamps, school breakfast and lunch programs, rental assistance and the fact that some unemployment benefits are not subject to federal income tax,” analysts stated that “the maximum benefit package when including the $300 a week supplemental UI benefit” vastly outweighs Americans’ median household income of $68,000.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice