, looking at the severity of the ups-and-downs of job markets while focusing on a geeky volatility measure — standard deviation — applied to annual changes in unemployment rates and job counts.It’s not just your personal impression: California workers have had to navigate a job market filled with far above-average gyrations during the past three decades.Job growth statewide averaged 0.9% annually since 1990 — No. 23 among the states — but has run from a high 3.
But workers in seven states have seen even wilder swings, according to my math. Hawaii was No. 1 for employment volatility, followed by Nevada, then Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Colorado and Rhode Island. At the other end of the volatility spectrum, Nebraska scored the most-stable ranking. Next was South Dakota, Arkansas, Kansas, Montana and West Virginia. Let’s politely say these aren’t major economic dynamos.