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North Dakota had highest proportion of people employed in 2016

March 02, 2017

In 2016, North Dakota had the highest employment–population ratio among the states, with 69.2 percent of the civilian working-age population employed. Four other states from the West North Central Census division rounded out the five highest statewide employment–population ratios: Nebraska (67.3 percent), South Dakota, Iowa (67.0 percent), and Minnesota (66.8 percent). West Virginia had the lowest employment–population ratio among the states (50.0 percent), as it has every year since this data series began in 1976.

Employment–population ratio by state, 2016 annual average
State Employment Civilian noninstitutional population Employment–population ratio

Alabama

2,038,775 3,816,102 53.4%

Alaska

336,620 545,586 61.7

Arizona

3,066,264 5,373,502 57.1

Arkansas

1,288,994 2,310,506 55.8

California

18,065,043 30,668,583 58.9

Colorado

2,795,233 4,323,427 64.7

Connecticut

1,795,519 2,870,300 62.6

Delaware

451,973 756,092 59.8

District of Columbia

368,846 559,927 65.9

Florida

9,358,571 16,615,517 56.3

Georgia

4,656,255 7,886,360 59.0

Hawaii

664,690 1,093,285 60.8

Idaho

783,434 1,273,307 61.5

Illinois

6,154,867 10,031,244 61.4

Indiana

3,179,806 5,145,338 61.8

Iowa

1,638,288 2,444,678 67.0

Kansas

1,422,122 2,210,930 64.3

Kentucky

1,892,273 3,458,277 54.7

Louisiana

1,992,125 3,587,429 55.5

Maine

664,010 1,094,802 60.7

Maryland

3,034,131 4,726,239 64.2

Massachusetts

3,455,827 5,528,119 62.5

Michigan

4,599,049 7,896,171 58.2

Minnesota

2,884,091 4,317,092 66.8

Mississippi

1,205,779 2,285,371 52.8

Missouri

2,970,702 4,757,894 62.4

Montana

504,573 824,410 61.2

Nebraska

978,567 1,454,377 67.3

Nevada

1,346,008 2,296,985 58.6

New Hampshire

727,420 1,090,036 66.7

New Jersey

4,299,931 7,092,168 60.6

New Mexico

864,912 1,609,577 53.7

New York

9,121,323 15,817,666 57.7

North Carolina

4,629,329 7,891,982 58.7

North Dakota

403,067 582,149 69.2

Ohio

5,430,790 9,139,843 59.4

Oklahoma

1,739,362 2,987,732 58.2

Oregon

1,954,821 3,282,991 59.5

Pennsylvania

6,120,029 10,230,918 59.8

Rhode Island

522,812 857,347 61.0

South Carolina

2,186,740 3,886,849 56.3

South Dakota

440,299 656,781 67.0

Tennessee

2,984,259 5,217,269 57.2

Texas

12,671,801 20,861,611 60.7

Utah

1,459,703 2,199,968 66.4

Vermont

333,640 515,269 64.8

Virginia

4,070,260 6,542,152 62.2

Washington

3,445,880 5,722,480 60.2

West Virginia

736,427 1,472,400 50.0

Wisconsin

2,991,033 4,570,688 65.4

Wyoming

286,373 451,285 63.5

The employment–population ratio for the entire United States was 59.7 percent in 2016. Overall, 24 states and the District of Columbia had employment–population ratios that were significantly above the nationwide ratio, while 16 states had ratios that were appreciably below it. In 2016, Alaska (61.7 percent) and New Mexico (53.7 percent) both recorded their lowest employment–population ratios since the series began in 1976.

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 — 2016 Annual Averages” (HTML) (PDF).

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, North Dakota had highest proportion of people employed in 2016 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/north-dakota-had-highest-proportion-of-people-employed-in-2016.htm (visited December 10, 2024).

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