Third best for business. Third best for declining unemployment. Fourth in the nation for job creation.

Gov. Bev Perdue has made creating jobs her major focus since she took office. There's still plenty of work to do, but the numbers show that North Carolina is moving in the right direction.

This week, Forbes magazine ranked North Carolina the third Best State for Business in America, an improvement from last year's ranking of fifth. Meanwhile, figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics told of even more dramatic improvement in the state's economic outlook.

Gov. Perdue shared the news and the stats with an audience at the Charlotte Chamber's retreat in Pinehurst.

The indicators :

• Unemployment declined from 11.1 percent in January to 9.7 percent now;

• Corporate profits are up 10 percent.

• North Carolina is fifth in the nation for personal income growth since June 2009.

• The stabilization of the construction and manufacturing industries, which are no longer losing jobs.

"This shows that the hard work of the past year has paid off – our investments in education to build the workforce of tomorrow, policies that create a more business-friendly climate and our aggressive recruiting," said Gov. Perdue. "When I took office, I pledged to take any meeting and make any call to bring jobs to this state. There's nothing I love more than convincing a corporate executive of what a great place this is to live and work."