Hickey: South Dakota employment numbers ignore Indian Country

First cousins causation and correlation sometimes sleep together and bear children when we're not paying attention, init?

State Representative Steve Hickey's tweet earlier today sent the blog looking for South Dakota's employment numbers.

The Bureau of Finance and Management (pdf) said this:

The unemployment rate in South Dakota was the fourth lowest in the nation in March at 3.5%. 

SD’s unemployment rate in March was 0.1% higher than February and the same as a year ago.

The US unemployment rate was 5.5% in March 2015

But, Rep. Hickey's tweet said this:

South Dakota regional unemployment rates pic.twitter.com/tDUgQbIfSv

— stevehickey (@stevehickey) June 9, 2015

Here is a graphic that seems to show a more realistic view of South Dakota's economic growth where the state's GDP is moving at a little over a half percent in 2014: