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Across the country, Colorado is second only to Texas when it comes to top relocation destinations for people moving from other states. That’s according to 2010 data from Allied Van Lines’ 43rd annual Magnet States Report (via the Denver Business Journal). Florida, South Carolina, and Arizona also top the list for net gains of people, while Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York are the big places to flee. The news might sound great for Colorado, which claims an 8.6 percent unemployment rate—slightly better off than the national rate of 9.8 percent. But the influx of new people could prompt the state’s jobless numbers to rise if newcomers don’t already have work.
As Tom Clark, the executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, tells The Denver Post, “It shows how attractive Colorado can be to recruit new workers, but when the state is lagging in job creation, in the near term, it keeps unemployment rates higher.” Still, the economy in Colorado—as well as in Utah and Wyoming—seems brighter than in other places, reports The Associated Press. The Goss Institute for Economic Research puts the business conditions index for the Rocky Mountain region in December at 57.6, up from 56 in November, and above the 50 mark, which indicates growth.