What Economic Slowdown? Not In 30 States

15 States with the Lowest Jobless Rates, January 2008

NEW YORK CSMONITOR---Don't look for an economic downturn in North Dakota: In fact, the state is holding job fairs in other states to try to fill 13,000 open jobs. "We don't see any sign of recession in our economy," says the commissioner of North Dakota's Department of Commerce.

The slump hasn't hit Chattanooga, Tenn., either. There, pent-up demand is so strong that a large back order exists for major connections to the municipal electrical grid. Even if builders are hanging up their hammers in a lot of cities, they are still building subdivisions in Mobile, Ala., which is expecting an onslaught of thousands of new workers at a new steel mill.

Amid concern that the US economy is slipping and sliding into a recession, some states and many cities expect to continue to grow. In some cases, the growth is the result of having the right industries or resources at the right time. In other cases, it is the result of savvy and diversified economic development that appears to be shrugging off the recession blues. In virtually all cases, areas of growth appear to have avoided the huge run-up in housing prices and subsequent collapse.

According to a January report by Moody's Economy.com, 30 states still showed signs of economic expansion, 15 were at risk of sliding into recession, and five had already entered a downturn (see chart above showing 15 states with unemployment rates below 4% from BLS data).

(HT: Ben Cunningham)