Labor force participation in blue states was 62.4% last December (2016) whereas it rose to 63.9% in September (2017). The figures for red states were 62.1% last December and 62.0% in September. The participation rate in red states is, however, still above the low of 61.9% in September of 2016. For red states there was a peak in between the two dates where red states hit 62.6% in April (2017), but since then has collapsed (see figure).
Why is this so? The WSJ reports that:
Though the labor market has grown robustly nationwide this year, progress has been uneven across blue states and red states. An increasing number of people in red states have stopped looking for work, while a larger share of people in blue states are actively in the workforce.*
“It’s industrial composition. [Red states] are heavy in industries that are downsizing and automating where prospects just look bad,” said Robin Brooks, chief economist at IIF. “The [overall] job market is skewing toward high-value-added jobs.”*
* https://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2017/11/28/why-are-people-in-red-states-dropping-out-of-the-labor-force/?mod=djemRTE_h
