Employment-Population Ratio below 50% in 10 States

In normal times, the employed outnumber those who are not employed among the population aged 16 or older. Nationally, that's still the case. But in 10 states, the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic has driven the employment-population ratio below 50 percent.

Nationally, the employment-population ratio was 52.8 percent in May 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, meaning 52.8 percent of the population aged 16 or older was currently employed. This figure is well below the 60.6 percent employment-population ratio one year earlier in May 2019. The 7.8 percentage point drop in the national ratio between May 2019 and May 2020 pales in comparison to the decline in some states. In Nevada, for example, the employment-population ratio fell by 19 percentage points...

May 2020 employment-population ratio in the 10 states with a ratio below 50 percent

	employment-population ratio	percentage point change, May 2019-May 2020
California	49.6%	-10.1
Florida	47.1	-10.1
Hawaii	45.0	-14.0
Louisiana	49.6	-6.1
Michigan	46.8	-12.3
Mississippi	47.2	-5.5
Nevada	41.9	-19.2
New Mexico	49.9	-5.3
New York	49.8	-8.4
West Viriginia	47.2	-5.0

Overall, 8 states experienced a double-digit decline in their employment-population ratio between May 2019 and May 2020. Five of the states are shown above. The three additional states are Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment-Population Ratio Less than 50.0 Percent for 10 States in May 2020