March 05, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Drops in employment-population ratios in most States

In 2002, 40 states and the District of Columbia posted declines in their employment-population ratios—the proportion of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and over with a job.

[Chart data—TXT]

The largest employment-population ratio declines occurred in Michigan ( 3.0 percentage points) and Delaware ( 2.6 points). Four other states recorded decreases of 2.0 percentage points or more from 2001, and 20 additional states and the District of Columbia registered declines of at least 1.0 point.

Nine states reported increases in their employment-population ratios and one State (Washington) reported no change. The largest increases in employment-population ratios were in South Dakota and Arkansas (+1.2 percentage points and +1.0 point, respectively). Iowa and Vermont were the only other states that reported increases of at least 0.5 percentage point.

These data are a product of the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. To learn more, see State and Regional Unemployment, 2002 Annual Averages, news release USDL 03-90. 

Related TED articles:

• Highest unemployment rate in 2002: Alaska 
• South Dakota had lowest unemployment rate in 2002