With the U.S. experiencing a record number of initial unemployment claims, WalletHub today released its report on the States with the Biggest Increases in Unemployment Due to Coronavirus.
To identify which states have experienced the largest unemployment increases, the site 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 23, 2020 to both the same week in 2019 and the first week of 2020.
Increase in North Carolina Unemployment Due to Coronavirus (1=Worst, 25=Avg.):
- 6064.54% increase in the Number of Unemployment Insurance Initial Claims – from 2,772 the week of March 25, 2019 to 170,881 the week of March 23, 2020. 4th highest increase in the U.S.
- 4771.18% increase in the Number of Unemployment Insurance Initial Claims – from 3,508 in the first week of the year to 170,881 the week of March 23, 2020. 3rd highest increase in the U.S.
States with the Biggest Increase in Unemployment Due to Coronavirus
| Overall Rank | State | Increase in Unemployment Claims (2020 vs. 2019)* | Increase in Unemployment Claims (March vs. January 2020)** |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Louisiana | 5772.15% | 5800.48% |
| 2 | North Carolina | 6064.54% | 4771.18% |
| 3 | Indiana | 7093.46% | 3198.22% |
| 4 | New Hampshire | 6240.42% | 3878.84% |
| 5 | Florida | 4179.79% | 4815.55% |
| 6 | Virginia | 5333.52% | 3479.17% |
| 7 | Michigan | 6467.15% | 2255.46% |
| 8 | Kentucky | 5099.54% | 2078.28% |
| 9 | District of Columbia | 3822.96% | 2991.06% |
| 10 | New Mexico | 3291.34% | 3427.16% |
| 11 | Tennessee | 3702.49% | 2963.94% |
| 12 | Ohio | 4291.30% | 2429.31% |
| 13 | Nevada | 3447.89% | 3054.55% |
| 14 | Massachusetts | 4779.06% | 1813.17% |
| 15 | Hawaii | 3812.01% | 2577.32% |
| 16 | Colorado | 3998.72% | 2400.37% |
| 17 | Delaware | 4367.53% | 2069.94% |
| 18 | Kansas | 3573.76% | 2611.19% |
| 19 | Mississippi | 3515.19% | 2526.99% |
| 20 | North Dakota | 4633.46% | 1406.10% |
| 21 | South Dakota | 4359.73% | 1569.60% |
| 22 | Nebraska | 3606.18% | 2135.85% |
| 23 | Vermont | 3538.04% | 2023.97% |
| 24 | Maryland | 3386.48% | 1997.84% |
| 25 | Rhode Island | 4082.86% | 1323.28% |
| 26 | Arizona | 2281.39% | 2743.68% |
| 27 | Washington | 3327.81% | 1770.52% |
| 28 | Pennsylvania | 3758.17% | 1386.85% |
| 29 | Utah | 3240.35% | 1781.42% |
| 30 | Alabama | 3463.82% | 1577.88% |
| 31 | Minnesota | 3482.01% | 1406.87% |
| 32 | Maine | 3381.51% | 1315.21% |
| 33 | California | 2180.75% | 2293.05% |
| 34 | Texas | 2135.72% | 2128.49% |
| 35 | Missouri | 3161.43% | 1194.27% |
| 36 | South Carolina | 3487.17% | 768.10% |
| 37 | Iowa | 3005.90% | 1174.60% |
| 38 | New Jersey | 2881.07% | 1241.04% |
| 39 | Oklahoma | 2535.99% | 1428.03% |
| 40 | Montana | 2687.45% | 1156.59% |
| 41 | Georgia | 3073.96% | 676.00% |
| 42 | Idaho | 2606.97% | 990.29% |
| 43 | New York | 2716.53% | 717.02% |
| 44 | Illinois | 1829.93% | 1412.29% |
| 45 | Arkansas | 2110.34% | 945.96% |
| 46 | Alaska | 1537.32% | 1380.43% |
| 47 | West Virginia | 2089.49% | 805.75% |
| 48 | Wyoming | 2202.96% | 606.19% |
| 49 | Wisconsin | 1850.05% | 761.40% |
| 50 | Connecticut | 1591.23% | 322.59% |
| 51 | Oregon | 920.21% | 533.04% |
You can read the full report here.