America's Top States for Business 2011 - Workforce Rankings

Workforce - 2011

Many states point with great pride to the quality and availability of their workers, as well as government-sponsored programs to train them. We rated states based on the education level of their workforce, as well as the numbers of available workers. We also considered union membership. While organized labor contends that a union workforce is a quality workforce, that argument, more often than not, doesn’t resonate with business. We also looked at the relative success of each state’s worker training programs in placing their participants in jobs.

Here are the ten categories ranked in our study:

     - Cost of Doing Business
     - Workforce
     - Quality of Life
     - Economy
     - Transportation & Infrastructure

     - Technology & Innovation
     - Education
     - Business Friendliness
     - Access to Capital
     - Cost of Living

Overall	State	Cost of Business	Workforce	Quality of Life	Economy	Infrastructure & Transp.	Technology & Innovation	Education	Business Friendliness	Access to Capital	Cost of Living
24	Arizona	38	1	35	44	10	18	49	13	18	36
18(t)	Florida	40	2	31	47	8	13	35	26	9	25
3	North Carolina	9	3	33	41	3	12	18	11	11	22
4	Georgia	18	4	38	35	2	17	22	16	13	9
31	Idaho	11	5	16	38	36	39	45	22	35	12
37	South Carolina	14	6	42	49	19	26	46	29	35	28
5	Colorado	30	7	7	26	26	14	30	6	15	33
8	Utah	12	8	14	16	33	25	46	4	23	17
18(t)	Tennessee	19	9	47	46	5	24	43	8	26	2
33	Arkansas	1	10	45	9	40	44	31	44	35	4
21	Wyoming	34	11	4	2	38	50	18	21	35	27
1	Virginia	21	12	26	8	10	11	6	2	10	24
11	Kansas	27	13	26	16	19	30	24	14	28	7
2	Texas	33	14	32	14	1	4	27	18	4	5
13(t)	South Dakota	7	15	5	11	42	49	20	3	35	26
41	Alabama	16	16	49	39	24	33	44	29	35	11
10	Nebraska	17	17	12	5	31	35	20	5	35	6
45	Nevada	35	18	44	50	25	37	50	17	29	32
36	Delaware	31	19	48	22	40	32	26	1	35	35
47	Mississippi	31	20	41	39	32	45	48	45	35	10
9	Iowa	1	21	18	5	37	28	15	11	35	14
28	Oklahoma	6	22	37	4	35	37	42	24	24	3
35	Kentucky	4	22	46	36	16	36	32	36	34	1
13(t)	North Dakota	20	24	9	1	28	48	23	9	35	19
42	Louisiana	22	25	50	28	26	34	33	26	35	21
20	Washington	43	26	13	32	18	5	14	31	8	37
50	Rhode Island	46	26	24	42	49	27	24	48	35	43
43	New Mexico	36	28	24	25	30	31	39	46	25	29
32	California	47	29	22	30	7	1	36	50	1	48
38	Montana	25	30	15	7	34	46	28	46	35	30
6	Massachusetts	41	31	10	15	29	3	4	15	2	41
30	New Jersey	43	32	16	42	23	8	2	41	6	46
16	Missouri	3	33	34	29	9	23	17	25	22	8
27	Oregon	9	33	20	48	16	20	37	23	19	38
39	Connecticut	45	33	11	44	43	19	3	40	17	47
7	Minnesota	23	36	8	27	15	16	10	20	16	33
44	Vermont	42	37	3	21	49	40	4	34	32	42
29	Maryland	39	38	30	12	39	10	11	18	12	44
46	West Virginia	15	39	38	13	44	47	38	49	35	16
17	New Hampshire	37	40	2	10	45	29	7	6	20	40
15	Indiana	8	41	40	30	21	22	12	10	14	15
34	Michigan	27	41	35	36	10	8	34	36	31	18
12	Pennsylvania	27	43	29	19	13	7	8	33	7	31
40	Maine	26	44	6	34	48	40	9	32	30	39
22	Illinois	24	45	28	32	6	6	29	36	5	20
25	Wisconsin	13	46	19	22	22	21	15	28	27	23
48	Hawaii	50	47	1	16	46	42	40	43	33	50
49	Alaska	49	48	21	3	47	43	41	34	35	49
26	New York	48	49	23	20	14	2	1	36	3	45
23	Ohio	5	50	42	24	4	15	13	42	21	13

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