Attribute it to the benefits of shale. North Dakota, much of which sits atop of the Bakken Formation, one of the largest natural gas formations in the world, has a nationwide low unemployment rate of 2.6%. The number is particularly extraordinary when compared to the U.S. average of 6.7%. The jobless rate in North Dakota is testament to a mix of small population and the dominance of one industry.

South Dakota has 845,000 residents, which ranks 46th among all states. Financial services is among the largest employers, along with agriculture. The federal government also has a relatively large number of workers there. However, it is the surge of energy employment that almost certainly has dropped the joblessness rate so low. Advances in tapping shale, which are relatively new, have made the Bakken Formation more productive.

It is no coincidence that another state atop of part of the field, Montana, has an unemployment rate of only 5.1%. Its population size ranks it 45th in the nation at one million.

Many of the remaining low unemployment states are also in the Plains states: Idaho at 5.2%, Iowa at 4.9%, Minnesota at 4.8%, Nebraska at 3.8%, South Dakota at 3.7% and Wyoming at 4.0%.

Several of the largest states in America by population continue to struggle with joblessness. California’s unemployment rate is 8.1%. Inland from the large coastal cities, in the valley where agriculture is still a major source of jobs, some cities have jobless rates in the double digits. The jobless rate in Illinois is 8.4%. Old industrial cities in the northern part of the state have among the highest unemployment rates in the nation. In another state that was dominated by old manufacturing, Rhode Island, the unemployment rate is 8.7%. Nevada never recovered entirely from the shattered real estate market there and the harm done the gambling industry during the recession. The jobless rate in the state is 8.5%.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and to say the numbers vary greatly is an understatement:

Regional and state unemployment rates were generally little changed in March. Twenty-one states had unemployment rate decreases, 17 states and the District of Columbia had
increases, and 12 states had no change, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported
today. Forty-six states and the District of Columbia had unemployment rate decreases
from a year earlier and four states had increases.

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