Faced with an adjusted labour market that faced an unexpected loss of 23,000 jobs during July, which also continues with a unemployment rate above 4% and wages that are not matched to high inflation, a recent report from the personal finance company WalletHub shows us what are currently the states in the U.S. The USA. They have the highest employment rate this year.
“It is undeniable that the United States has fostered a culture of hard work, where people work more hours than residents of other developed countries and often give up their holidays. Working hard is praiseworthy, but those living in states with the highest work rate should consider taking a break from time to time, as lack of free time can have a negative impact on their physical and mental health,” said Chip Lupo, an analyst at WalletHub.
Recently, a Monster Labour Safety Report 2026 was also published, highlighting that at least 54% of U.S. employees would even accept a salary reduction if that allows them to continue working; that would explain why in some states the employment rate is higher, as due to economic uncertainty many fear to be left without a livelihood.
To develop their study, WalletHub researchers analyzed a set of data, including the average number of hours worked per week, up to the percentage of workers with multiple jobs and the average daily leisure time.
In this sense, it was determined that the 10 states of the United States where the most work is done are:
According to the results, South Dakota is positioned as the state with the highest labor index, where 6.5% of workers have several jobs. In addition, it is the entity with the lowest percentage of inactive young people, which shows that they even look for employment while continuing their studies.
But this does not reflect the reality of the whole country, since, according to an analysis developed by the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP), it determined that at least 25% of workers face the so-called “functional unemployment”, that is, that a greater number of individuals over 16 years unemployed seek to integrate into the labour market and even within that sample is taken into account those who work part-time and receive salaries below the federal poverty threshold.
