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SOUTH DAKOTA ECONOMY The state has a stable economy, dominated by wholesale and retail trade, and agriculture. Total gross business sales grew from $10.5 billion in 1984 to $56.6 billion in 2008. In 2008, retail and wholesale trade represented 39.4% and 25.4% of total gross sales, respectively. In 2007, the farm economy produced cash receipts of $6.1 billion. Crops generated $3.0 billion, or 50.1% of total cash receipts, and livestock generated $2.7 billion, or 44.7% of cash receipts. Payments to farms for field crops and dairy products under federal farm subsidy programs totaled $317.1 million. This amount has grown from $90.7 million in 1981 and represented 5.2% of total cash receipts in 2006. The state does not offer any farm subsidy programs. Finance and insurance is the leading industry in South Dakota (as measured by GDP by state), accounting for over 19% of the state’s Gross Domestic Product. Other top industries include manufacturing, health care and social assistance, retail trade, real estate/rental/leasing, and agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting. Combined, these industries account for over 58% of South Dakota's Gross Domestic Product by state. Government, educational and health services, retail trade, and leisure and hospitality are the sectors that employ the most workers. Currently, no single sector employs more than 20% of all nonfarm workers. Sitting at the top of the list of largest private employers in South Dakota is Sanford Health in Sioux Falls. Sanford Health, when teamed with Avera McKennan Hospital, accounts for more than 12,000 employees in the Sioux Falls area. South Dakota is considered to have an attractive business climate. According to the Small Business Survival Foundation, South Dakota offers the best economic environment for entrepreneurship in the nation. The state has no income tax, personal or corporate, the lowest unemployment insurance rates and boasts the lowest property crime rate in the nation. The state's unemployment rate has been significantly lower than the unemployment rate of the United States and is expected to remain lower in the future.
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