The South trails much of the nation in the share of its available workforce with a job: Prime-age employment-to-population ratio (EPOP) by region, 1979–2022

South West Northeast Midwest
1979 74.8% 75.4% 73.0% 75.4%
1980 74.7% 75.3% 73.1% 74.1%
1981 75.1% 75.3% 73.7% 74.7%
1982 73.8% 74.3% 73.1% 73.1%
1983 74.0% 74.3% 73.3% 73.5%
1984 76.3% 76.1% 75.3% 75.7%
1985 77.1% 76.9% 76.3% 76.5%
1986 76.9% 77.4% 77.6% 77.7%
1987 78.0% 78.2% 78.8% 78.8%
1988 78.7% 79.2% 79.2% 79.9%
1989 79.4% 79.8% 79.7% 80.9%
1990 79.4% 79.1% 79.3% 80.9%
1991 78.6% 77.8% 77.7% 80.3%
1992 78.3% 77.0% 76.9% 80.7%
1993 78.6% 76.9% 77.5% 81.0%
1994 79.2% 77.9% 77.6% 82.0%
1995 79.6% 78.2% 78.2% 82.9%
1996 79.9% 78.4% 79.3% 83.2%
1997 80.3% 79.3% 80.1% 83.9%
1998 80.6% 79.5% 80.5% 83.9%
1999 81.0% 79.7% 80.9% 84.3%
2000 81.1% 80.1% 80.9% 83.8%
2001 79.9% 79.4% 80.2% 82.9%
2002 78.5% 78.1% 79.5% 81.6%
2003 78.2% 77.6% 78.8% 81.0%
2004 78.3% 78.1% 79.2% 80.8%
2005 78.9% 78.4% 79.4% 81.1%
2006 79.1% 79.3% 79.8% 81.6%
2007 79.3% 79.5% 79.9% 81.4%
2008 78.3% 78.4% 79.8% 80.5%
2009 75.1% 74.8% 77.0% 77.0%
2010 74.5% 73.6% 76.4% 76.7%
2011 74.6% 73.5% 76.0% 77.1%
2012 75.3% 74.1% 76.1% 77.9%
2013 75.1% 74.8% 76.4% 78.0%
2014 75.8% 75.4% 76.9% 79.5%
2015 76.0% 76.0% 78.0% 80.3%
2016 76.8% 76.9% 78.5% 80.8%
2017 77.6% 77.8% 79.3% 80.9%
2018 78.3% 78.5% 80.3% 81.6%
2019 79.0% 79.3% 80.7% 82.0%
2020 75.2% 74.0% 75.6% 78.4%
2021 77.0% 76.4% 77.7% 80.0%
2022 78.9% 79.2% 80.6% 81.9%

Source: EPI analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey.   

View the underlying data on epi.org.