NEW Hampshire ranked low, at No. 47, in WalletHub’s recent analysis of the best and worst early education systems. Factors taken into consideration were resources and economic support, quality of education and access. The Granite State tied with Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming at No. 46 when evaluating the total reported spending per child enrolled in preschool.

IN that same WalletHub study, New Hampshire was ranked at No. 44 (tied with Ohio) as having one of the highest monthly child care copayment fees as a percent of family income in the country. New Hampshire came in dead last when specifically looking at economic support and resources.

BASED on findings from a Pew Research Center Survey, in 2022, 19 percent of American workers were in jobs with tasks that may be either replaced or assisted by AI. Jobs with a high level of exposure to AI are in higher-paying fields where a college education and analytical skills are required for jobs such as budget analysts, data entry techs, tax preparers, technical writers, web developers, among others.

THE U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that, as of May 2023, there were 41,000 job openings — a rate of 5.5 percent, compared to the national rate of 5.9 percent. Additionally, New Hampshire was one of two states to register a decline in the number of hires over the month of May, with 29,000 hires that month, but also 29,000 separations—17,000 of which were employees who quit.

RECENT findings from a TargetSmart poll shows New Hampshire voters are “deeply and overwhelmingly concerned” about the influence of dark money in elections and big donors in politics.

Eighty-four percent of NH voters agree that politicians ignore them and listen only to the big donors who fund their campaigns, and 82 percent of NH voters agree wasteful spending can’t be reduced due to special interests that pay for candidates’ campaigns.