With the U.S. experiencing an extremely high number of initial unemployment claims, WalletHub today released updated rankings for the States with the Biggest Increases in Unemployment Due to Coronavirus, along with accompanying videos.
To identify which states have experienced the largest unemployment increases, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across two key metrics. These metrics compare initial unemployment claim increases for the week of March 30, 2020 to both the same week in 2019 and the first week of 2020. Below, you can see highlights from the report, along with a WalletHub Q&A.
WalletHub Q&A
How do red states and blue states compare when it comes to increases in unemployment?
“With an average unemployment rank of 25, Red States suffered a higher increase of their unemployment during the coronavirus outbreak than Blue States, which rank 27 on average,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst. “The lower the rank, the higher the increase in initial unemployment claims that state received during the coronavirus pandemic.”
The state with the current largest number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is New York. How has New York’s unemployment rate been affected?
“New York has seen a 670% increase in initial unemployment claims from the beginning of 2020 to the 14th week,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst. “This is better than the average increase of 2,193%.”
What can states do in order to minimize the rise in their unemployment rates?
“States should aggressively focus on helping the companies in the most need. The federal response will include sending checks to most citizens, even those whose income has not been affected by the coronavirus. States can use a more targeted approach to divert resources to the companies affected the most, thus having maximum impact for the money spent,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst.
| Overall Rank | State | Increase in Unemployment Claims (2020 vs. 2019)* | Increase in Unemployment Claims (April vs. January 2020)** |
| 1 | Louisiana | 6118.90% | 6111.40% |
| 2 | New Hampshire | 7186.52% | 5148.41% |
| 3 | Virginia | 6747.65% | 4597.55% |
| 4 | Georgia | 8262.24% | 2175.35% |
| 5 | Mississippi | 4800.32% | 3847.71% |
| 6 | Michigan | 5659.41% | 2813.94% |
| 7 | North Carolina | 4282.70% | 3821.69% |
| 8 | Nevada | 3877.34% | 3427.61% |
| 9 | North Dakota | 5816.54% | 1825.00% |
| 10 | Indiana | 4298.91% | 2913.96% |
| 11 | South Dakota | 5435.66% | 1888.94% |
| 12 | Arizona | 2528.53% | 4120.59% |
| 13 | Hawaii | 4030.89% | 2808.60% |
| 14 | Maryland | 4227.48% | 2597.34% |
| 15 | Nebraska | 4448.05% | 2337.49% |
| 16 | District of Columbia | 3406.38% | 3100.21% |
| 17 | Tennessee | 2589.69% | 3665.92% |
| 18 | Florida | 2553.62% | 3578.76% |
| 19 | New Mexico | 2944.16% | 3229.91% |
| 20 | Kentucky | 4122.60% | 2163.48% |
| 21 | Kansas | 3566.62% | 2364.39% |
| 22 | Delaware | 3913.40% | 2055.77% |
| 23 | Maine | 4044.93% | 1741.91% |
| 24 | Alabama | 3552.96% | 2109.81% |
| 25 | Ohio | 3629.53% | 1983.67% |
| 26 | Vermont | 3016.76% | 2278.82% |
| 27 | Rhode Island | 4123.47% | 1332.81% |
| 28 | Utah | 3123.78% | 2078.92% |
| 29 | California | 2454.59% | 2420.29% |
| 30 | Arkansas | 2610.76% | 2267.70% |
| 31 | Iowa | 3682.81% | 1368.25% |
| 32 | Texas | 2296.94% | 2437.66% |
| 33 | South Carolina | 3931.20% | 1037.97% |
| 34 | Minnesota | 3443.34% | 1423.64% |
| 35 | Massachusetts | 3149.12% | 1374.87% |
| 36 | Washington | 2707.22% | 1664.04% |
| 37 | Colorado | 2290.65% | 1771.41% |
| 38 | Oklahoma | 2425.89% | 1637.14% |
| 39 | Idaho | 3173.94% | 915.29% |
| 40 | New Jersey | 2675.36% | 1295.74% |
| 41 | Missouri | 3022.36% | 1002.48% |
| 42 | Illinois | 2163.86% | 1605.92% |
| 43 | Montana | 2607.85% | 1186.88% |
| 44 | Pennsylvania | 2449.82% | 939.34% |
| 45 | New York | 2639.40% | 669.85% |
| 46 | Alaska | 1625.03% | 1466.77% |
| 47 | West Virginia | 1986.28% | 804.41% |
| 48 | Wisconsin | 1847.15% | 715.12% |
| 49 | Wyoming | 1324.42% | 640.18% |
| 50 | Oregon | 1167.82% | 743.70% |
| 51 | Connecticut | 1294.74% | 325.60% |
*Refers to the increase in the number of unemployment insurance initial claims in the 14th week of 2020 compared to the 14th week of 2019.
**Refers to the increase in the number of unemployment insurance initial claims in the 14th week of 2020 compared to the 1st week of 2020.
