Pasadena, CA -- (SBWire) -- 07/30/2010 -- Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that Kentucky led the country in job growth in terms of percentage (+1.5 percent), and close behind was New Hampshire (+1.43 percent).

Even though Kentucky showed the highest job growth in percentage terms, the state’s unemployment rate was still 10.1 percent. However, Kentucky Office of Employment and Training recorded a fall in unemployment rates in 107 counties out of a total of 126. New Hampshire had an unemployment rate of 5.1 percent and was able to add only 9,200 jobs since June 2009. Dennis Delay, from the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies has called the growth rate “awful slow”. He was expecting the growth rate to be 3 to 4 percent for the state.

The industry sectors where New Hampshire saw growth where in the professional and business services. Other growth areas included education and healthcare as well as in retail stores. But the state also lost jobs in manufacturing and financial activities.

Job search engine, Hound has been able to compile a list of almost 2,000 jobs in New Hampshire and around 4,000 jobs in Kentucky. Hound CEO A. Harrison Barnes says “The fact that the top two growth states have been able to add only 6,000 jobs may not seem encouraging, but for young single people who are more mobile, there are over a 100,000 job opportunities throughout the country.”