New federal labor statistics show New Hampshire had the second-fastest rate of job growth over the last year, with categories such as professional and business services, education and health care and retail seeing the additions.
Nationally, the number of jobs fell by an average of 0.1 percent from June 2009 to June 2010. New Hampshire saw growth of 1.43 percent - or over 9,200 jobs created over the year. That was second only to Kentucky.
New Hampshire didn't lose as many jobs as the rest of the country did, said Dennis Delay, an economist with the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies. However, he described the 1.43 percent growth rate as "pretty low."
"In an average economic growth year in New Hampshire, you'd expect jobs to increase by 3 to 4 percent, maybe even 5 percent," he said. "So a 1.43 percent growth coming out of a recession and then to an economic recovery, that's awful slow."
The government said New Hampshire added jobs in professional and business services, such as consulting and administrative management. Others were added in education and health care, such as private schools, colleges and universities, hospitals and walk-in clinics. Jobs also were created in trade and transportation. Delay said most of those jobs went to retail, such as grocery stores and malls.
The gains were offset by a loss of jobs in the manufacturing and financial activities sectors.
New Hampshire's unemployment rate is 5.9 percent.
