Borrowing from an approach that sometimes appears in the finance sections of the popular press, LSGL analysis is a handy and versatile way to compare, portray and classify the patterns of state government employment growth across all 51 states. In finance, this technique is used for comparing and assessing the market performance of individual securities or across industry sectors. For example, the performance of the 30 stocks contained within Dow are compared with one another over the past week in contrast to their performance over the past month using the Dow's respective averages as the points of reference.

Here in this United States Regional Economic Analysis Project report, we adopt this approach to gauge and compare the state government employment growth of all 51 states over the latest available year (2022) against the backdrop of their growth over the long term period (2010-2022). In so doing we classify their growth and performance into 4 broad categories: Leading, Slipping, Gaining and Lagging.

This figure displays the 51 states of the United States as dots on a scattergram, with the vertical axis representing the average annual state government employment growth rate over the long-term period (2010-2022), and the horizontal axis representing the state government employment growth rate for the near-term (2022).

This figure sets apart those states whose long-term state government employment growth exceeded the nationwide average of -0.09%, by portraying them in the top two quadrants demarcated at -0.09% on the vertical axis. State whose long-term average annual state government employment growth rate trailed the nationwide average (-0.09%) are distributed in the bottom two quadrants. In all, 21 states surpassed the nationwide average over 2010-2022, while 30 states fell below.

Similarly, the two quadrants on the right of this figure present the positions of the 19 states whose most recent (2022) state government employment growth rate exceeded the nationwide average (-0.04%). The two quadrants on the left feature those 32 states whose state government employment growth over 2022 trailed the nationwide average.

Accordingly, each quadrant portrays the performance of all 51 states corresponding with their long-term (2010-2022) and near-term (2022) performance relative to their respective nationwide averages of -0.09% over 2010-2022 and -0.04% over 2022:

Leading states () (top-right quadrant)...are states whose average annual state government employment growth rate surpassed the nationwide average both long-term (-0.09%) and near-term (-0.04%).

Slipping states () (top-left quadrant)...are states whose long-term average annual state government employment growth rate exceeded the nationwide average (-0.09%), but whose near-term growth has "slipped" by falling below the the United States average (-0.04%).

Gaining states () (bottom-right quadrant)...are states whose long-term average annual state government employment growth rate fell below the nationwide average (-0.09%), but whose near-term growth has "gained" by registering above the average (-0.04%) nationwide.

Lagging states () (bottom-left quadrant)...are states whose average annual state government employment growth rate fell under the nationwide average both long-term (-0.09%) and near-term (-0.04%).

Turning attention to the top-right quadrant from the discussion above, this figure features the distribution of the United States states classified as Leading. These states surpassed the United States' average annual state government employment growth both long-term (2010-2022 = -0.09%) as well as near-term (2022 = -0.04%). Each is identified by its corresponding ranking based on it's average annual state government employment growth rate over 2010-2022.

Of the United States' 51 states, 13 (25%) are classified within the Leading () category. Those states ranked by their long-term average include:

This figure depicts the distribution of the 8 United States states classified as Slipping (top-left quadrant), in that their long-term average annual state government employment growth rate outpaced the average nationwide (2010-2022 = -0.09%), while they trailed the nationwide average near-term (2022 = -0.04%). Again, each state is identified by it's corresponding ranking based on its average annual state government employment growth rate over 2010-2022.

Observe that 8 (16%) of the United States' 51 states are classified as Slipping (). Those states ranked by their long-term average include:

This figure shows the distribution of the 6 United States states classified as Gaining (bottom-right quadrant), in that their long-term average annual state government employment growth rate posted below the average nationwide (2010-2022 = -0.09%), while they outpaced the United States' average near-term (2022 = -0.04%). Again, each state is identified by its corresponding ranking based on its average annual state government employment growth rate over 2010-2022.

Of the United States' 51 states, only 12% (6) are featured as Gaining (). Those states ranked by their long-term average include:

This figure depicts the distributions of the 24 United States states classified as Lagging (bottom-left quadrant). These states trailed the nationwide average annual state government employment growth both long-term (2010-2022 = -0.09%) as well as near-term (2022 = -0.04%). Again, each state is identified by its corresponding ranking based on it's average annual state government employment growth rate over 2010-2022.

47% of the United States' states, 24 of 51, are characterized here as Lagging (). Those states ranked by their long-term average include: