'Best regions' poised for brightest future WASHINGTON, June 30 (UPI) -- People in the East South Central region of the United States are least likely to be employed and learn new things, a survey indicates. The Gallup Daily tracking and the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index -- involving nearly 480,000 interviews of U.S. adults conducted Jan. 2 to May 9 -- asked 13 questions encompassing economic, workplace, community and personal choices used to assess the future livability of nine U.S. regions to reveal "hidden energy" and areas poised for the brightest future. The East South Central region -- Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi -- fared worst in terms of employment. The West North Central region -- Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas -- did best overall, buoyed by the highest percentage of workers employed in full-time jobs. The Pacific region -- California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, and Alaska -- and the Mountain region -- Montana, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and New Mexico -- also share another advantage: Their residents tend to be healthier and have the lowest rates of smoking and obesity in the country. Residents in the West South Central region -- Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma -- express the most positivity about their standard of living and their communities looking forward. Residents of the Pacific, Mountain and West North Central regions were the most likely to say they learned something new yesterday and that their supervisor, if they worked, treated them like a partner and not a boss. The survey has a margin of error of 0.7 percentage points. The special Gallup analysis was produced for Business Insider.