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Hawaii and Nevada had largest drops in employment–population ratio from February to September

October 27, 2020

Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia had employment–population ratios that were at least 3 percentage points lower in September 2020 than in February, the month before the World Health Organization declared a global COVID-19 pandemic. The ratio in Hawaii was 47.8 percent in September, 11.9 percentage points lower than in February. In Nevada, the ratio was 53.5 percent in September. That was up from a low of 40.6 percent in April but still 7.7 percentage points lower than in February.

Employment–population ratios by state, seasonally adjusted
State Jan 2020 Feb 2020 Mar 2020 Apr 2020 May 2020 Jun 2020 Jul 2020 Aug 2020 Sep 2020

Alabama

56.5% 56.4% 55.6% 48.9% 52.2% 52.3% 53.0% 55.1% 54.3%

Alaska

59.8 59.8 60.0 54.0 53.5 55.4 55.4 56.1 56.9

Arizona

59.6 59.6 58.0 52.9 55.6 54.2 54.6 54.9 56.8

Arkansas

56.1 56.2 56.0 49.7 51.7 51.3 51.5 52.8 52.6

California

60.2 60.1 58.1 49.8 49.5 51.7 52.1 53.0 53.2

Colorado

67.6 67.7 64.7 58.3 59.8 61.5 61.8 62.3 63.6

Connecticut

64.4 64.4 64.6 56.5 55.7 58.6 59.1 59.4 60.5

Delaware

59.9 60.0 57.8 50.2 50.6 54.1 57.5 57.9 57.7

District of Columbia

67.6 67.8 68.2 61.3 61.0 62.0 62.1 62.6 62.3

Florida

57.8 57.9 56.1 46.4 47.1 49.6 50.1 53.1 52.9

Georgia

60.4 60.5 59.5 51.7 53.5 54.9 55.6 55.9 55.6

Hawaii

59.6 59.7 59.6 44.3 44.0 50.2 50.7 51.1 47.8

Idaho

62.4 62.5 62.7 56.0 57.4 60.2 61.0 61.1 61.2

Illinois

61.9 61.9 60.4 50.8 53.5 55.6 55.4 56.3 57.5

Indiana

62.4 62.5 60.3 50.4 55.5 57.1 57.8 59.4 59.1

Iowa

68.9 68.9 67.3 61.6 61.5 60.8 61.2 61.5 62.0

Kansas

64.8 64.9 65.6 59.3 60.6 61.4 61.9 62.4 62.0

Kentucky

57.0 57.0 56.0 48.9 51.7 52.4 50.1 53.0 51.8

Louisiana

55.8 56.0 55.5 45.9 48.8 50.5 51.0 54.4 53.9

Maine

60.4 60.4 60.5 52.9 54.1 56.0 56.3 56.4 57.2

Maryland

66.4 66.5 66.6 58.6 58.8 61.8 62.6 63.1 59.6

Massachusetts

66.0 66.0 64.9 50.5 52.3 53.6 54.4 55.6 60.5

Michigan

59.5 59.6 58.6 43.6 46.8 52.5 54.9 56.0 55.8

Minnesota

68.1 68.1 67.6 62.9 62.1 63.9 64.1 64.6 64.3

Mississippi

52.8 52.8 52.5 43.8 47.3 47.7 48.1 49.9 52.6

Missouri

62.2 62.2 62.7 56.4 56.1 57.8 59.2 59.3 59.2

Montana

60.6 60.6 60.7 53.5 55.6 57.9 58.2 58.4 58.9

Nebraska

67.9 68.1 68.6 65.0 65.6 66.2 66.8 66.8 66.8

Nevada

61.1 61.2 59.3 40.6 41.9 51.5 51.6 52.3 53.5

New Hampshire

67.4 67.4 66.4 52.9 55.1 58.2 59.8 61.0 61.6

New Jersey

61.9 62.0 62.5 53.0 54.2 53.4 55.6 57.5 57.3

New Mexico

55.6 55.6 55.1 49.0 49.9 51.2 48.2 48.2 52.2

New York

58.7 58.8 57.7 49.2 49.7 50.7 51.6 53.2 52.8

North Carolina

59.3 59.4 57.2 49.0 50.4 53.1 53.7 54.0 54.4

North Dakota

67.6 67.7 68.0 63.2 62.5 63.9 64.1 64.4 64.6

Ohio

60.3 60.4 58.8 50.5 53.6 55.8 55.7 56.7 55.8

Oklahoma

58.7 58.7 58.4 49.8 52.3 54.3 55.0 56.7 58.3

Oregon

59.3 59.3 59.3 52.3 52.9 55.4 53.6 54.9 54.8

Pennsylvania

60.7 60.8 59.9 52.6 54.7 53.7 54.1 54.9 56.8

Rhode Island

62.2 62.4 62.2 50.0 50.4 55.7 57.0 54.3 57.9

South Carolina

56.9 56.9 56.7 50.4 51.4 54.0 54.4 54.8 54.8

South Dakota

66.7 66.8 67.1 61.9 62.1 64.2 64.3 64.5 65.3

Tennessee

60.2 60.0 60.2 50.2 53.9 52.6 52.3 57.1 57.1

Texas

61.9 61.9 59.9 50.5 52.8 56.8 57.0 60.0 58.3

Utah

66.7 66.7 65.4 59.9 61.4 63.8 64.5 64.7 65.4

Vermont

64.0 64.0 63.6 56.5 57.8 59.6 59.9 59.5 59.4

Virginia

64.8 64.9 64.1 57.2 58.4 59.1 59.3 60.8 59.8

Washington

62.6 62.8 60.7 54.5 55.0 57.4 58.2 59.3 58.8

West Virginia

53.0 53.2 53.7 45.3 47.2 47.6 47.6 49.0 49.2

Wisconsin

64.6 64.5 64.4 56.6 58.6 60.1 60.3 61.4 63.7

Wyoming

62.6 62.8 63.0 59.4 59.5 60.5 60.5 60.4 61.2

In Mississippi and Oklahoma, the employment–population ratios fell sharply in April, as they did in all other states in the early months of the pandemic. By September, the ratios in Mississippi and Oklahoma were about the same as they were in February. In most other states, the September ratios were still lower than in February.

These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent month are preliminary. To learn more, see "State Employment and Unemployment — September 2020." Also see more charts and maps on state employment and unemployment. The employment–population ration is the percentage of the civilian population age 16 and older with a job.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Hawaii and Nevada had largest drops in employment–population ratio from February to September at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2020/hawaii-and-nevada-had-largest-drops-in-employment-population-ratio-from-february-to-september.htm (visited May 19, 2024).

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