Governing magazine this week ranked Delaware’s economy No. 3 among the 50 states.
Massachusetts took the top spot, followed by Oregon. Holding down the bottom spots were Alaska and West Virginia West Virginia has struggled with a decline in coal production, due to environmental restrictions on power generation and lower prices.
Alaska has been hit by sharply lower oil prices.
The report used data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to make its calculations. A key factor was employment growth and in that category, Delaware ranked fourth.
Governing also compared the ranking to the popularity of the governor, with Gov. Jack Markell coming in with a 66 percent approval rating.
However, the Democratic governor was not as popular as Gov. Larry Hogan in Maryland. The moderate Republican has a 71 percent popularity score. Charlie Baker, a Republican governor in heavily Democratic Massachusetts as a 72 percent approval rate.
Among the lowest ranking states, Connecticut Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy, by far had the lowest approval rating at 29 percent. The state’s economic performance ranked 42nd.
The Governing report came a week after Delaware got an identical No. Three ranking as a place for families.
The small state finishes anywhere from near the top to the bottom third when it comes to its economic, lifestyle and financial performance.
Free market think tanks often give greater weight to the state’s high personal income tax rate, its gross receipts tax (a sales tax paid by businesses based on their total sales, relatively high cost of living and the lack of a right to work law. The right to work bars mandatory collection of dues by employees represented by a union.
Other rankings put a higher value on the state’s average incomes, lack of a sales tax and low property taxes.
There has been some debate on job growth in the state. The growth rate is often adjusted once survey information is replaced by more reliable payroll data.
So far, this year, the state’s 2.5 percent job growth rate is well above the national figure.
