Washington ? At the end of America’s longest economic boom, Rhode Island and Idaho led all states in economic growth while Alaska and Louisiana, where the recession started, were dead last, the government reported Monday.

The Commerce Department report on gross state product showed the 10-year economic boom was showering prosperity from coast to coast in 2000 but there were pockets of weakness, reflecting hard times in the oil and gas industry and manufacturing.

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Residents of Rhode Island enjoyed the fastest growth pace, a gain of 10.7 percent in gross state product in 2000 compared to 1999. Idaho was not far behind with an increase of 8.3 percent, followed by an 8.1 percent rise in economic output in neighboring Oregon.

At the other end of the spectrum, Alaska, Louisiana and Mississippi were all hurt by weakness in the oil and gas industry and manufacturing. Economic output in Alaska fell by 2.9 percent in 2000 and was down 2.7 percent in Louisiana, the only two states where the economy shrank that year. Mississippi, third from the bottom, eked out a tiny 0.8 percent increase.

	The average annual percent increase in total gross state product from 1999 to 2000, according to a report:Kansas 2.4Iowa 3.7Minnesota 5.2Missouri 3.3Nebraska 2.5North Dakota 4.1South Dakota 5.1Nationwide 4.5

The performance in the various states compared to a nationwide increase of gross state product of 4.5 percent in 2000. That performance compared with an increase in the gross domestic product, the benchmark for the entire economy, of 4.1 percent for 2000.

The National Bureau of Economic Research has ruled that the country’s longest period of economic growth ended in March 2001, exactly 10 years after the economic expansion began. The NBER has not determined when the recession ended, but many private economists believe the recovery began in January or February.

All together the top 10 growth states accounted for more than half of U.S. economic growth in 2000.