Minnesota, North Dakota, and Nebraska had the highest employment–population ratios in 2018

Among the states, Minnesota had the highest employment–population ratio in 2018 (67.8 percent), followed by North Dakota (67.7 percent) and Nebraska (67.3 percent). West Virginia had the lowest employment–population ratio among the states in 2018 (51.0 percent), as it has since the data series began in 1976. Overall, 22 states and the District of Columbia had employment–population ratios significantly higher than the U.S. ratio of 60.4 percent and 17 states had ratios that were appreciably below it.

The largest employment–population ratio increase among the states in 2018 occurred in Massachusetts (+1.6 percentage points). Eight other states also had significant increases in their ratios. North Dakota was the only state with a statistically significant decrease in its employment–population ratio over the year (–1.2 percentage points). The remaining 40 states and the District of Columbia had ratios that were not notably different from those of the previous year, though some had changes that were at least as large numerically as the significant changes.

These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. The employment–population ratio is the proportion of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years of age and over who are employed. To learn more, see “Regional and State Unemployment – 2018 Annual Averages.”