Jobs › Methodology
Jobs Power Rankings — Methodology
Field: 50 states + D.C.. Accountable official: Governor. Cadence: monthly. Data retrieved 2026-06-18.
Weights are public so the ranking cannot be called rigged. Each dimension is normalized 0–100 across all ranked states & D.C. (min–max; inverted where lower is better), multiplied by its weight, and summed to the 0–100 composite. A metric that is unavailable for an entity is never estimated — the remaining weights are rescaled and the composite flagged “partial.”
| Dimension | Source | Direction | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unemployment rate | BLS LAUS (seasonally adjusted) | Lower better ▼ | 25 |
| Nonfarm job growth (YoY) | BLS CES State (seasonally adjusted) | Higher better ▲ | 25 |
| Labor force growth (YoY) | BLS LAUS labor force (seasonally adjusted) | Higher better ▲ | 15 |
| Wage growth (avg hourly earnings) pending | CES state earnings series pending ID confirmation | — | 15 |
| Private vs. government job mix pending | CES government series ingest pending | — | 10 |
| Underemployment (U-6) pending | state U-6 published annually only | — | 10 |
Provenance
Primary source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v2/.