Just three days after the closure of Holden's Elizabeth factory in Adelaide, South Australia has received a positive report card on the state's economy.

CommSec's quarterly State of the States report card compares how states and territories have been performing and has given SA its highest rating since 2011.

SA jumped into fourth position this quarter — up from sixth — and ahead of Queensland and Tasmania.

It now trails only New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT, with the report ranking SA third on dwelling starts and business investment.

SA Centre for Economic Studies deputy director Steve Whetton said he was surprised by the report.

"I certainly am not feeling as pessimistic about the unemployment rate as I was three or six months ago," he said.

"Employment is growing faster than the population is. Wages are growing quite nicely after a period of very low growth."

Categories for SA Level this quarter Comparison with decade average Unemployment 5.8 per cent down 3.5 per cent Population growth 0.60 per cent growth down 37.9 per cent Economic growth $112,203 million up 15.4 per cent Dwelling commencements 2,859 up 5.0 per cent Equipment investment $678 million down 2.7 per cent Housing finance 3,615 up 0.7 per cent Retail spending $4,999 million up 9.3 per cent Construction work $2,531 million up 3.9 per cent Source: CommSec State of the States October 2017 economic performance report

Mr Whetton said the picture for SA's labour market was looking the best it had for quite some time.

"Certainly it wouldn't be a case of doom and gloom for people getting into the labour market," he said.

South Australia's unemployment rate last week settled below 6 per cent on trend figures for the first time in four years, but experts are expecting last Friday's closure of Holden's plant in Adelaide's north will soon push that up.

CommSec also pointed to improved wages growth in the state, which Mr Whetton said he did not expect.

"Those sections of the manufacturing sector connected to the automotive sector are quite substantial," he said.

"So the fact that the state's come through that [the closure of Holden] with employment still growing is quite impressive.

"And it makes me more optimistic about the potential for people who are working in the automotive sector to be able to find good quality, meaningful jobs."

Investment across a variety of industries

Mr Whetton said investment had occurred across a wide variety of industries, which had been buoyed by the removal of some uncertainties, such as the future of Whyalla's steelworks — formerly owned by Arrium.

'Whyalla was under a huge cloud until the purchase [by GFG Alliance] was finalised," he said.

"And the fact that it's not only been bought by someone who's going to keep it operating, but has ambitious expansion plans, must be doing wonders for confidence of businesses up in Whyalla."

The report also showed SA's population growth was weak.

"I think we need to some sort of change in the way in which the national migration program is run," he said.

"At the moment it's basically funnelling people into Sydney and Melbourne, which are having trouble dealing with their rate of population growth."

New South Wales has the highest rankings on retail trade, dwelling starts and equipment investment.

The report showed Western Australia's economic performance was ranked as the weakest, which CommSec said continued to reflect the end of the mining construction boom.