PORTLAND – The number of Mainers working at companies owned by women grew by more than 14 percent from 1997 to 2000, the second-fastest rate in the nation, according to a study.

An analysis of U.S. Census figures by the National Women’s Business Council found that Maine is second only to New Jersey in the percentage of job growth at woman-owned companies.

“It’s certainly showing that women-owned firms have been around in Maine for a long time, they’re established and they’re doing well now,” said Julie Weeks, executive director of the federally funded, nonpartisan women’s business group. “It’s a testimony to the entrepreneurial spirit of the women of Maine.”

The group studied 1997 through 2000 data because those were the most recent census figures on businesses that could be broken down by the owner’s gender. The group now has an agreement with the Census Bureau to analyze the figures every year to establish baselines and trends in woman-owned businesses.

The top five states in employment growth – New Jersey, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island – were all in the Northeast. Weeks noted that the South and West are recording higher rates of business startups overall, but the Northeast tends to have more established woman-owned businesses, which are more likely to provide steady employment growth.