With increased vaccine eligibility and the gradual lifting of restrictions on businesses, new unemployment claims increased slightly week-over-week on March 29, but were still 89% below the peak during the COVID-19 pandemic. To help add some context to these statistics, WalletHub just released updated rankings for the States Whose Unemployment Claims Are Recovering the Quickest.
The good news is that every state had unemployment claims last week that were better than the same week last year.
The report also shows that South Carolina has recovered the 8th fastest over the past week and North Carolina has recovered the 3rd fastest since the start of the pandemic. The Tar Heel State has specifically seen a -95.04% reduction in unemployment claims since the COVID-19 crisis first began in early 2020.
States Whose Unemployment Claims Are Recovering the Quickest
State | Recovered Most Since Last Week | Recovered Most Since Start of COVID-19 Crisis |
---|---|---|
Arkansas | 1 | 10 |
Kansas | 2 | 4 |
Arizona | 3 | 6 |
South Dakota | 4 | 5 |
New Hampshire | 5 | 1 |
Alabama | 6 | 39 |
Michigan | 7 | 2 |
Illinois | 8 | 16 |
South Carolina | 9 | 8 |
Washington | 10 | 12 |
Pennsylvania | 11 | 7 |
North Carolina | 12 | 3 |
Indiana | 13 | 17 |
Florida | 14 | 18 |
New Jersey | 15 | 14 |
Maine | 16 | 9 |
North Dakota | 17 | 11 |
Maryland | 18 | 25 |
Wyoming | 19 | 32 |
Oregon | 20 | 40 |
Wisconsin | 21 | 30 |
Montana | 22 | 26 |
Missouri | 23 | 20 |
Minnesota | 24 | 15 |
Nebraska | 25 | 13 |
Tennessee | 26 | 21 |
Vermont | 27 | 23 |
Hawaii | 28 | 27 |
Iowa | 29 | 19 |
Connecticut | 30 | 49 |
Utah | 31 | 28 |
Delaware | 32 | 22 |
Massachusetts | 33 | 33 |
California | 34 | 36 |
Idaho | 35 | 41 |
Georgia | 36 | 38 |
New York | 37 | 43 |
Mississippi | 38 | 37 |
Nevada | 39 | 29 |
Alaska | 40 | 48 |
Colorado | 41 | 46 |
Oklahoma | 42 | 44 |
Rhode Island | 43 | 31 |
Ohio | 44 | 45 |
Kentucky | 45 | 42 |
District of Columbia | 46 | 35 |
Louisiana | 47 | 24 |
Texas | 48 | 50 |
West Virginia | 49 | 51 |
New Mexico | 50 | 34 |
Virginia | 51 | 47 |
Rank 1 = Most Recovered