The U.S. unemployment rate is still on an upward trend, with roughly 30.3 million Americans now having lost their jobs since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, despite the fact that some states have already begun to selectively reopen businesses. Today, WalletHub released updated rankings for the States with the Biggest Increases in Unemployment Due to the Coronavirus.
To identify which states’ workforces have been hurt most by COVID-19, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on increases in unemployment claims. We used this data to rank the most impacted states in both the latest week for which we have data (April 20) and overall since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis (March 16).
States with the Biggest Increases in Unemployment Due to Coronavirus
| State | Most Affected Last Week | Most Affected Since Start of COVID-19 Crisis |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | 1 | 5 |
| Georgia | 2 | 1 |
| Kentucky | 3 | 4 |
| Louisiana | 4 | 3 |
| North Carolina | 5 | 6 |
| South Dakota | 6 | 9 |
| Virginia | 7 | 7 |
| West Virginia | 8 | 26 |
| Mississippi | 9 | 13 |
| Alabama | 10 | 17 |
| Washington | 11 | 29 |
| South Carolina | 12 | 12 |
| Texas | 13 | 36 |
| Indiana | 14 | 10 |
| Nevada | 15 | 19 |
| District of Columbia | 16 | 18 |
| Kansas | 17 | 22 |
| New Hampshire | 18 | 2 |
| Oklahoma | 19 | 28 |
| New Mexico | 20 | 27 |
| Colorado | 21 | 14 |
| Tennessee | 22 | 21 |
| North Dakota | 23 | 11 |
| Missouri | 24 | 24 |
| Hawaii | 25 | 20 |
| Minnesota | 26 | 15 |
| Ohio | 27 | 16 |
| Arizona | 28 | 43 |
| Nebraska | 29 | 23 |
| Michigan | 30 | 8 |
| Alaska | 31 | 49 |
| Maryland | 32 | 31 |
| Massachusetts | 33 | 34 |
| Oregon | 34 | 50 |
| Iowa | 35 | 33 |
| Utah | 36 | 35 |
| Arkansas | 37 | 41 |
| Rhode Island | 38 | 40 |
| Illinois | 39 | 42 |
| New York | 40 | 38 |
| California | 41 | 45 |
| Pennsylvania | 42 | 32 |
| Maine | 43 | 25 |
| Delaware | 44 | 30 |
| Wyoming | 45 | 48 |
| Wisconsin | 46 | 47 |
| Vermont | 47 | 46 |
| Idaho | 48 | 37 |
| Montana | 49 | 39 |
| Connecticut | 50 | 51 |
| New Jersey | 51 | 44 |
Increase in North Carolina Unemployment Due to Coronavirus (1=Worst, 25=Avg.):
- 3,330.91% Increase in Unemployment Claims (April 2020 vs April 2019)
- 97,232 the week of April 20, 2020 vs 2,834 the week of April 22, 2019
- 6th highest increase in the U.S.
- 2,671.72% Increase in the Number of Unemployment Claims (April 2020 vs January 2020)
- 97,232 the week of April 20, 2020 vs 3,508 the week of January 1, 2020
- 4th highest increase in the U.S.
- 4,332.19% Increase in Unemployment Claims Since Pandemic Started
- 747,303 between the week of March 16, 2020 and the week of April 20, 2020 vs 17,250 between the week of March 18, 2019 and the week of April 22, 2019
- 6th highest increase in the U.S.
To view the full report and your state’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/