North Dakota Has 2.7% Jobless Rate in 2015

While it is likely to go much higher this year because of the collapse of the oil industry, North Dakota boasted the lowest 2015 unemployment rate in the United States at 2.7%. The figure shows the benefit of one highly successful industry on the job rate in a state’s total.

For the entire year of 2015, the unemployment rate in the United States was 5.3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The results from state to state varied widely, according to the federal agency:

In 2015, annual average unemployment rates decreased in 47 states and the District of Columbia, increased in 2 states, and were unchanged in 1 state, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment-population ratios increased in 35 states and the District of Columbia and decreased in 15 states.

No matter how high or low at state’s rate, it likely posted an improvement over 2014.
[nativounit]
Among the other states with particularly low jobless rates were several Plains states and two in northern New England:

North Dakota had the lowest unemployment rate, 2.7 percent in 2015, followed by Nebraska and South Dakota, 3.0 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively. Nevada and West Virginia had the highest jobless rates among the states, 6.7 percent each. The District of Columbia had a rate of 6.9 percent. Overall, 20 states had unemployment rates that were significantly lower than the U.S. figure of 5.3 percent, while 13 states and the District of Columbia had rates measurably above it.

The rate was 3.7% in Vermont and 3.4% in New Hampshire.

It tells something about how very local the jobless rate is when Utah, which shares a long border with Nevada, has an unemployment rate of 3.5%.