North Dakota’s having an oil boom now, right? So then the jobs situation would be positive pretty much all the way around.

PRINCETON, NJ – Workers in North Dakota reported the best hiring situation at their places of employment, with 42% saying their companies are hiring and expanding the size of their workforces versus 8% letting workers go and reducing the size of the workforce. The resulting Job Creation Index score of 34 is seven points better than that of any other state. Maine and Oregon have the lowest scores.

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Nationally, in the first half of 2012, 35% of U.S. workers reported an increase in workforce size, while 17% reported a decrease, for an index score of 18. The national score is up from 13 in 2011 and 7 in 2010.

As in 2011, all states report a more positive than negative hiring situation. That was not the case in 2010 and in particular 2009, when more than half of the states had negative index scores, meaning more employees said their employers were reducing rather than increasing the size of their workforces.