As the United States and the rest of the world desperately search for a return to something resembling 'normal' in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to see the fallout in the economics surrounding the ever-changing workforce around the globe.

According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, since the outbreak of COVID in early 2020,  the number of people in the workforce has been stuck at historic lows with the number of open jobs nationwide outpacing the number of people looking for work by nearly 4.3 million.

In South Dakota, that gap is among the widest in America.

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According to 24/7 Wall St., the Mount Rushmore State has the 12th biggest discrepancy between open jobs and people looking for work.

In South Dakota, there are 3.1 open jobs for every applicant and that number doesn't appear to be dropping anytime soon since the state already has the fourth-highest labor force participation (68.4%) and the tenth lowest unemployment rate in the country (2.1%).

STATES WITH BIGGEST WORKER SHORTAGES (Open jobs per job seekers)

  1. Nebraska (6.0)
  2. Utah (5.1)
  3. Montana (4.0)
  4. Vermont (3.8)
  5. New Hampshire (3.7)
  6. Wisconsin (3.6)
  7. Indiana (3.4)
  8. Georgia (3.4)
  9. Idaho (3.3)
  10. Oklahoma (3.2)

STATES WITH SMALLEST WORKER SHORTAGES (Open jobs per job seeker)

  1. California (1.1)
  2. New Mexico (1.2)
  3. New York (1.2)
  4. New Jersey (1.3)
  5. Connecticut (1.3)
  6. Nevada (1.3)
  7. Illinois (1.3)
  8. Texas (1.4)
  9. Maryland (1.4)
  10. Delaware (1.4)

TRENDING FROM RESULTS-TOWNSQUARE SIOUX FALLS:

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