February 28, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Midwest had highest employment-population ratios in 2001

In 2001, Minnesota reported the highest proportion of employed persons, 73.3 percent.

[Chart data—TXT]

Four other Midwestern states—Iowa, Nebraska, South
Dakota, and Wisconsin—registered the next highest employment-population ratios. Of these, only Iowa had a ratio of less than 70.0 percent.

West Virginia posted the lowest employment-population ratio, 54.9 percent in 2001, despite an increase of 1.0 percentage point from 2000. Three additional Southern states had the next lowest ratios—Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi—all below 59.0 percent.

In the U.S. overall, the employment-population ratio was 63.8 percent in 2001.

These data are a product of the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. The employment-population ratio is the proportion of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and over with a job. To learn more, see "State and Regional Unemployment, 2001 Annual Averages," news release USDL 02-97.

 

Related TED articles:

• State with highest unemployment rate in 2001: Washington
• North Dakota had lowest unemployment rate in 2001
• Average unemployment up in most States in 2001