2010 Census results show job market and population growth go hand in hand

The 2010 Census results show that the job market and population growth go hand in hand.

Population grew from 281,421,906 in 2000 to 308,745,538 in 2010, or 9.7 percent. This was the slowest pace of growth since the decade from 1930 to 1940. As most people are aware, the Great Depression happened in the 1930s.

Bad economies obviously don't attract job-seeking immigrants as well as thriving economies. Moreover, poor economic conditions discourages marriage and thus impacts birth rates. For the 2000s, Wells Fargo attributed the slow population growth to the relatively poor U.S. jobs market.

The past decade saw the weakest average monthly percentage increase in employment on record, said economists at the bank.

Moreover, the state-by-state results confirm this job market theory.

The fastest-growing states included Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and Idaho. Not surprisingly, these states had above-average jobs growth for the past decade (at least before the subprime mortgage crisis), according to Wells Fargo.

Meanwhile, Michigan, whose job market had been plagued by the struggling automobile industry, was the only state that saw a population decline.

Email Hao Li at hao.li@ibtimes.com