Adam McCann, Financial Writer

Sep 17, 2020

The U.S. is still struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic, and different states have begun to reopen at different rates. Some states have paused their reopening plans or have even reversed course and issued new restrictions. Despite that, new unemployment claims decreased week-over-week on September 7, which shows that we’re making progress toward recovery.

There are currently 13.6 million Americans unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in total. Last week, there were 860,000 new unemployment claims nationwide, which is a lot fewer than the 6.9 million during the peak of the pandemic (an 87% reduction).

To identify which states’ workforces are experiencing the quickest recovery from COVID-19, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three metrics based on changes in unemployment claims. Read on for the results, additional commentary from a panel of experts and a full description of our methodology.

Main Findings

States Whose Unemployment Claims Are Recovering the Quickest

State Recovered Most Since Last Week Recovered Most Since Start of COVID-19 Crisis Oregon 1 1 South Carolina 2 39 Connecticut 3 2 Pennsylvania 4 6 West Virginia 5 15 South Dakota 6 42 Vermont 7 5 Wyoming 8 10 New Jersey 9 3 Utah 10 16 Iowa 11 7 Wisconsin 12 8 North Dakota 13 30 Maine 14 41 Missouri 15 21 Maryland 16 25 Arkansas 17 11 Oklahoma 18 48 Ohio 19 26 Delaware 20 20 Colorado 21 36 District of Columbia 22 28 Illinois 23 4 Rhode Island 24 14 Alabama 25 32 Minnesota 26 38 Montana 27 13 Kentucky 28 46 Washington 29 34 Massachusetts 30 22 Michigan 31 37 New York 32 19 Idaho 33 18 Arizona 34 9 North Carolina 35 43 Mississippi 36 40 Texas 37 23 Nebraska 38 24 Tennessee 39 35 Virginia 40 47 Alaska 41 17 New Mexico 42 33 Nevada 43 31 New Hampshire 44 49 Indiana 45 44 Hawaii 46 29 Georgia 47 51 Florida 48 50 California 49 12 Louisiana 50 45 Kansas 51 27

Rank 1 = Most Recovered

Detailed Findings

State Change in Unemployment Claims (Latest Week vs. Last Year)* Change in Unemployment Claims (Latest Week vs Start of 2020)** Change in Unemployment Claims (Since Start of COVID-19 Crisis vs. Last Year)*** Oregon 13.42% -34.67% 622.27% South Carolina 54.62% -42.67% 1347.07% Connecticut 109.61% -33.34% 635.37% Pennsylvania 108.76% -23.25% 779.05% West Virginia 87.81% 11.32% 934.79% South Dakota 129.14% -13.07% 1511.63% Vermont 139.58% -15.44% 774.59% Wyoming 150.00% -7.85% 823.47% New Jersey 152.78% 22.97% 670.56% Utah 157.62% 51.38% 939.18% Iowa 193.26% 8.20% 796.22% Wisconsin 217.53% -11.22% 802.71% North Dakota 222.62% -2.75% 1146.19% Maine 234.06% -16.84% 1503.49% Missouri 225.85% 5.59% 989.70% Maryland 174.77% 79.68% 1119.53% Arkansas 203.19% 58.77% 826.21% Oklahoma 211.72% 60.89% 1908.04% Ohio 235.74% 42.49% 1120.04% Delaware 223.70% 70.17% 973.00% Colorado 234.08% 101.60% 1304.16% District of Columbia 196.07% 166.53% 1125.25% Illinois 252.87% 98.14% 773.58% Rhode Island 305.58% 51.17% 888.04% Alabama 301.30% 74.74% 1204.38% Minnesota 333.41% 58.32% 1338.94% Montana 320.68% 83.15% 861.59% Kentucky 350.40% 63.19% 1808.98% Washington 315.99% 125.26% 1211.16% Massachusetts 343.32% 88.68% 992.60% Michigan 386.76% 31.69% 1304.38% New York 398.93% 40.37% 971.66% Idaho 448.82% 18.23% 969.53% Arizona 250.15% 307.28% 820.34% North Carolina 297.41% 259.35% 1697.39% Mississippi 318.33% 248.73% 1415.54% Texas 304.50% 301.42% 1011.61% Nebraska 485.27% 138.58% 1108.28% Tennessee 411.93% 249.25% 1277.43% Virginia 419.72% 264.52% 1839.60% Alaska 443.16% 296.43% 968.57% New Mexico 404.98% 356.95% 1206.21% Nevada 412.60% 365.28% 1147.89% New Hampshire 535.58% 200.29% 2157.60% Indiana 592.20% 212.38% 1724.60% Hawaii 554.34% 309.10% 1142.57% Georgia 707.99% 146.66% 2972.96% Florida 416.90% 632.37% 2263.50% California 564.43% 526.97% 860.45% Louisiana 747.67% 823.34% 1801.52% Kansas 1263.35% 661.02% 1124.27%



*Refers to the change in the number of unemployment insurance initial claims in the week of September 7, 2020 compared to the week of September 9, 2019.

**Refers to the change in the number of unemployment insurance initial claims in the week of September 7, 2020 compared to the week of January 1, 2020.

***Refers to the change in the number of unemployment insurance initial claims between the weeks of March 16, 2020 to September 7, 2020 compared to the weeks of March 18, 2019 to September 9, 2019.



Coronavirus Job Losses vs. Great Recession



Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, St. Louis Federal Reserve.



Red States vs. Blue States

Ask the Experts

Facing a pandemic is stressful enough by itself, but many Americans must deal with losing their employment on top of health concerns. To help guide Americans in this time of crisis, WalletHub turned to a panel of experts to provide some additional insight. Click on the experts below to view their bios and responses to the following key questions:

What is your opinion on the $2.2 trillion emergency relief package that has been passed by Congress and signed by President Trump? Will this be sufficient to ensure full relief? What is your advice for people who don’t qualify for the stimulus payments? What do you think of insured unemployment as a measure for unemployment?

Methodology

In order to identify where states’ workforces have recovered most from COVID-19, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on changes in unemployment insurance initial claims for several key weeks. We then used those metrics to give two separate rankings to the states.

Our first ranking is based on the most recent data only, and uses the following metrics:

Change in Number of Unemployment Insurance Initial Claims in Latest Week vs. Last Year: Double Weight (~66.67 Points)

Note: This metric measures the change in the number of unemployment insurance initial claims in the week of September 7, 2020 compared to the week of September 9, 2019.

Change in Number of Unemployment Insurance Initial Claims in Latest Week vs. Start of 2020: Full Weight (~33.33 Points)

Note: This metric measures the change in the number of unemployment insurance initial claims in the week of September 7, 2020 compared to the week of January 1, 2020.

The second ranking is based on cumulative data since the beginning of the pandemic:

Change in Number of Unemployment Insurance Initial Claims Since Start of COVID-19 Crisis vs. Last Year: Full Weight (~100.00 Points)

Note: This metric measures the change in the number of unemployment insurance initial claims between the weeks of March 16, 2020 to September 7, 2020 compared to the weeks of March 18, 2019 to September 9, 2019.



Sources: Data used to create this ranking were obtained from the U.S. Department of Labor.

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