The chart above shows the ratio of the region's proportion of unemployed people in the US to the region's proportion of total people in the US. Ratios are relatively even across all US regions.
Findings
- The difference between the region with the lowest ratio of unemployed within the US to people within the US, the South, and the region with the highest, the West, is 0.17.
- The South has 0.85 times - or nearly nine-tenths - the ratio that the West does.
Caveats
- Unemployment data is from December 2018.
- Population data is from 2010.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
- The Southern US consists of Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia.
- The Midwestern US consists of Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
- The Northeastern US consists of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Delaware, Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
- The Western US consists of California, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Hawaii, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming.
Details
Southern states have a ratio that ranges from a low of 0.77 in Virginia to a high of 1.16 in Louisiana. Midwestern states have a ratio that ranges from a low of 0.65 in Iowa to a high of 1.15 in Ohio. Northeastern states have a ratio that ranges from a low of 0.70 in New Hampshire to a high of 1.09 in Maryland. Western states have a ratio that ranges from a low of 0.64 in Hawaii to a high of 1.57 in Alaska.
Seven states have a ratio higher than that of the West: one from the Midwest (Ohio), one from the South (Louisiana), and five from the West (Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, and Alaska). Twenty-one states have a ratio lower than that of the South: three from the West, three from the Northeast, seven from the South, and eight from the Midwest.
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2019. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed February 6, 2019. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/laus_01182019.htm.
United States Census Bureau. September 2012. "United States Summary: 2010: Population and Housing Unit Counts." Accessed January 23, 2018. https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/cph-2-1.pdf.