How Competitive is Minnesota?

As it turns out, (slightly) worse than average.  Unfortunately, our neighbors are doing much better.

Hank Robison and Rob Sentz over at New Geography took a look at how states are doing competing with each another to create jobs.  Not surprisingly, oil-rich North Dakota, Texas, and Alaska rank first, second, and third, respectively.  Oil-rich and post-Katrina Louisiana ranks forth, in the period that covers 2007 through 2011.

But non-oil neighbors South Dakota and Nebraska come in at 5th and 6th, while Minnesota clocks in at a disappointing 31st.  Iowa ranks 11th and Wisconsin comes in at 22nd.  Minnesota does not rank ahead of a single neighboring state, unless you count Michigan (we share a water border in Lake Superior), which ranks 4th from last, ahead of only Florida, Arizona, and Nevada--which were hit hardest by the real estate crash.

Robison and Sentz use a methodology that seeks to screen out the effects of national economic trends, to try and tease out how each state competes against expectations in creating jobs.  About states like Minnesota doing worse than average,

"If a state is losing, then it stands to reason that there are factors within the state that make it less competitive...If a state is hemorrhaging jobs faster than the national economy, there should be cause for concern.  There are likely toxic conditions within industry sectors and economic policies that make it very difficult for employment and economic activity to flourish."