Governors, economic development offices and tourism agencies will seize on anything — any statistic — to set them apart from their competitors. And every time the government publishes statistics, someone has to be first. So let’s hand out some 2013 bragging rights for states.
Based on statistics published by various government agencies and compiled by several outside groups, these nine states, and one District, take the prize for the best of 2013:
• Fastest job growth: If any state thrived during the great recession, it was North Dakota. The continued development in the western third of the state, fueled by growth in the Bakken oil field, meant North Dakota’s unemployment rate was sinking even as the rest of the country’s was growing.
That growth continued this year. As of November 2012, there were 437,000 jobs in North Dakota. As of November 2013, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the state had 455,000 jobs — a 4 percent increase over the past year.