North Dakota's workers compensation agency says a national study has found it has the lowest premiums in the country.

Workforce Safety and Insurance says the study undertaken every two years by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services found premium rates ranging from a low of $1.08 per $100 of payroll in North Dakota to a high of $3.97 in Alaska.

Interim WSI director Bruce Furness says the study is "great news."

WSI has gone from having a deficit to a surplus, after legislators made changes in benefits in the 1990s.

North Dakota AFL-CIO President Dave Kemnitz says seriously injured workers and their families have suffered as a result.

- Associated Press