It's another dispiriting black mark for a state that can ill afford any more: Maine is, according to one respected business magazine, the worst state in the U.S. to start a business or build a career.

We finished dead last in the most recent edition of Forbes magazine's state rankings, nudging out Rhode Island and moving from 49th to 50th.

"Growth prospects in Maine have deteriorated relative to the rest of the country," according to the article accompanying the Forbes listings.

"Job growth is expected to increase 1.3 percent annually over the next five years — one of the worst forecasts in the country. The state has endured a rash of business closings the past three years as well."

The ranking puts us behind other beleaguered locales, including Mississippi (48), Michigan (47), Louisiana (44) and West Virginia (41).

Also accompanying us at the bottom of the charts are a few surprises: Hawaii (46), Vermont (45) and Sarah Palin's home state, Alaska (42).

Other New England neighbors, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, fared better, 16th and 19th respectively.

The best places to do business: Utah, Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado and Washington, in that order.

The article spends some time lauding Utah for its pro-business climate. Its economy is expanding at a 3.5 percent rate, twice the national average and three times our rate.

Household incomes surged 5 percent in Utah last year, the best rate in the U.S. and twice the national average.

Utah lowered its corporate tax rate from 7 percent to 5 percent in 2008, something Maine tried to do but which was rejected by voters.

The state has energy costs 35 percent below the national average, far lower than those in Maine, and it has an educated labor force, low poverty rate, healthy people and "ample" recreational opportunities.

Earlier this year, Forbes also "crowned" Utah the "country's most fiscally fit state government." Maine state government ranked 32nd.

The article highlights how major companies are expanding in Utah: Goldman Sachs, Adobe, Oracle and eBay — all bringing thousands of high-tech knowledge jobs to the state.

The Forbes rankings measure six "vital" categories for business: costs, labor supply, regulatory environment, current economic climate, growth prospects and quality of life.

Business costs — labor, energy and taxes — are weighted most heavily.

Maine was ranked 16th in "quality of life," by far our highest ranking. We were 47th in business costs and 48th in regulatory environment, 45th and 44th in economic climate and growth prospects.

It would be easy to dismiss the Forbes rankings if they didn't mirror a host of other studies that cast the state's business climate in a miserable light.

Collectively, they are a public-relations and business-recruitment disaster for Maine.

Nearly all of the candidates for governor talk about improving our business climate.

The next governor should act on that by appointing a blue-ribbon panel of experts to study what concrete steps Maine can take to emulate the states at the top of these rankings.

Lower our corporate income tax rate? Streamline and speed up our regulatory environment? Provide incentives for more highly educated, technically oriented students to stay in the state?

Whatever it is, we need a plan. These rankings will become a self-fulfilling prophecy if allowed to continue.

editorialboard@sunjournal.com