Top Five Best and Worst States for Entry Level Jobs and Internships

Now that the class of 2009 has graduated, a new group of workers has entered the job market. The problem is, this isn’t the best time for recent graduates to be looking for entry level jobs. With the economy currently is a state of recession, many employers simply can’t afford to hire inexperienced graduates. Despite this, there are still internships and entry level positions in certain areas.

Recently CollegeRecruiter.com released a press release outlining where are the five best and worst states in the country for entry level jobs and internships. According to the release, the job board will continue to update the list each month.

"We were very disappointed to see that almost every state, large and small, recorded significant decreases in the number of internships and were basically flat for entry-level job openings," said CollegeRecruiter.com’s founder Steven Rothberg in the release. "The lower internship numbers in May are a real setback given that April's numbers were up substantially and the summer is now upon us. It appears that many employers likely found the interns they needed or were confident they would be able to do so without having to advertise their openings. Fortunately for this year's graduates, however, it appears that the entry-level market has stabilized."

According to CollegeRecruiter.com the top state in the country for the number of both internships and entry level jobs is California. Despite being the top area for these positions, California saw a decrease of 16 percent in internships and a 0.5 percent decline in entry level jobs.

For Internships New York came in second, with 1,690 positions posted on the CollegeRecruiter.com. This marks a decline of 4 percent. Texas came in third, with a 13 percent decrease in internships. Florida followed with 814 listings, which shows an 18 percent decline. Illinois rounded out the top five, with employers posting 20 percent fewer internships than they did in April.

As far as entry level jobs go, Texas came in second with employers posting 8,262 jobs online. New York came in third, despite the fact that employers decreased the number of position by 0.7 percent. Florida, where businesses also dropped the number of positions listed by 0.7 percent came in fourth. Pennsylvania, which rounded out the top five, was the only state to see an increase in entry level jobs. During the month employers in this area created 0.9 percent more positions.

The worst states in the country for internships were not a huge surprise, considering that all of those that made the list are sparsely populated. According to CollegeRecruiter.com, South Dakota was the worst state for those looking for internships. Employers in the area only posted 23 internships. Wyoming followed with only 28 positions listed online. Montana came in third with 33 internships. Hawaii and Vermont tied for the fourth place slot, with both states only reported 36 internship possibilities.

As far as entry level jobs go, CollegeRecruiter.com found North Dakota to be the worst state in the country. Employers there only posted 135 positions on the job board. South Dakota, with 137 entry level jobs, came in second. Wyoming followed with 146 positions. Montana, where employers listed 156 jobs online, came in fourth. Hawaii rounded out the top five, with 163 entry level positions posted on the website.