Pasadena, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/0@/2010 -- The three states with the lowest unemployment rate in the country where in the Midwest – North Dakota (3.6 percent), South Dakota (4.6 percent), and Nebraska (4.7 percent).

The other five states among the top ten states with lowest unemployment rate were also in the Midwest. They are: New Hampshire, Vermont, Kansas, Iowa, and Wyoming. All of them have a below 10 percent jobless rate. Part of the reason is the agricultural basis of the economy which has remained stable. Another reason is that the region did not go through a housing boom and the subsequent subprime mortgage crash that resulted in the loss of construction jobs. The area traditionally has a mobile workforce and also one which likes to be self-employed.

Talking on the prospects of jobs in the Midwest, A. Harrison Barnes strikes a note of optimism. Barnes is owner and CEO of Employment Research Institute, which has among other companies, Hound, a job search engine. “It’s true that these Midwestern states did not have the type of mass layoffs that happened elsewhere. So once you get a job in this region, its pretty stable.”

The Midwestern states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Wyoming had a total of over 6,000 jobs available on Hound.