Delaware Overview

Strategically located between New York City and Washington DC, Delaware offers a convenient location, favorable tax conditions and affordable lifestyle. The First State is most reliant on banking, insurance and financial services for economic strength and growth. The 40-acre Delaware Technology Park research center supports the state’s growth in science and technology. The Delaware job market is expected to see solid job expansion.

Delaware Job Opportunities

Just 96 miles long, Delaware is the second-smallest state in the nation. With 7 million people visiting the state’s pristine beaches, pastoral towns and historic sites annually, tourism plays an important role in the economy. Delaware is also focused on growing jobs in aerospace and aviation, green and material sciences, healthcare and life sciences, and insurance and financial services.

The biggest sources of Delaware jobs are the trade, transportation and utilities; education/health services; and government sectors. Education/health service has reported the strongest and most consistent growth in 2012, while most other sectors have shown varied monthly job gains and losses.

Delaware Employment Trends

Delaware’s unemployment rate peaked at 8.5 percent in early 2010 before falling to below 7 percent in the first half of 2012. State payrolls were strong at the beginning of 2011 then slowed for the remainder of 2011 and first half of 2012. Online hiring has reported mild growth and some slight declines in 2012.

Employment in Delaware is expected to increase 1.4 percent between Q2 2012 and Q2 2013, slightly more than the 1.3 percent growth expected in the nation’s job supply, Moody’s Analytics forecasts.