The Bakken formation has been very, very good to North Dakota. The state again led the nation when Gallup conducted its latest job market conditions survey. Meantime, Connecticut fell to the bottom of the rankings.

Using a hiring climate formula based upon companies that are hiring and those that are laying people off, Gallup reported that these are the Top 5 states to find a job in:

  1. North Dakota

  2. Texas

  3. Nebraska

  4. Wisconsin

  5. Michigan

The places not to look for work were:

  1. Connecticut

  2. Alaska

  3. New Mexico

  4. West Virginia

  5. Maine

North Dakota's economy has been driven for some time now by the drilling activity generated by the discovery of the Bakken formation. While the activity has caused some related law enforcement and housing problems, and involves the controversial fracking process, it's been good for state revenue, highway conditions, school funding and unemployment stats.

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Said Gallup of this clear hiring climate winner: "North Dakota maintained its pre-eminent position in Gallup's annual ranking of state job markets in 2014, with employed North Dakota residents providing a strongly upbeat report on hiring conditions where they work — the most positive of any state. … In North Dakota, 48 percent of workers in 2014 said their employer is hiring and 12 percent said their employer is letting workers go."

Connecticut's comparables: 33 percent of workers saying their employer is hiring and 17 percent letting go.

Gallup offered some other observations from the survey:

Michigan's No. 5 placement in the list, Gallup says, "represents one of the sharpest turnarounds of any state in the seven years Gallup has measured job creation. Michigan was among the worst-performing states in 2008 and 2009, but with significant improvements in that state's economy, it rose to about average net hiring in 2010, and has ranked among the top-performing states in each of the past two years."

Similarly, Delaware's hiring climate has turned around sharply since the recession, going from a bottom finisher to a top performer over the last four years. "Delaware holds the distinction of being the only state anywhere along the Eastern seaboard to be in the top 10."

Overall, hiring conditions are good throughout the U.S. with "all 50 states now have positive net hiring scores, and all but three — West Virginia, Alaska and New Mexico —  have markedly improved on this measure since these ratings hit their low point in 2009."

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Dan Cook

Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.