In a report that will raise a few eyebrows, the Motley Fool investors website lists Delaware as having the nation’s fastest-growing gross domestic product.
The GDP is the total value of goods and services and is a widely followed measurement of economic growth. The measurements came from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The Motley Fool report did note that Delaware is seeing more than half of its industries reporting below average GDP growth. However, the financial services industry is making up for that weakness, with growth that is running double the national average.
The performance of financial services may come as a surprise to Delaware residents, since media reports often point to layoffs and site closings. However, a look at help wanted listings shows that even financial services companies that have disclosed job reductions are hiring in other areas.
The number two state in the Motley Fool ranking is Texas, which is seeing growth in mining (oil and gas) and manufacturing, a sector also partially tied to oil and gas. New Hampshire is in third place, with Washington state in fourth and New York in the fifth spot.
New York is a mirror image of Delaware with strong growth in financial services.
The GDP is not a measurement of employment growth,
In the past two years, Delaware has seen a below-average performance in that area. However, in the years after the recession (2009 to 2015, the state had the fastest growth in the region, the Delaware Department of Labor reported.
The sluggish job growth has been the target of criticism from Delaware Republican legislators and some business leaders.
They point to long-running control of both houses of the General Assembly and the governor’s office by Democrats as the main reason for the sub-par job growth performance.
