Despite the fact that the U.S. is dealing with an uptick in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, new unemployment claims decreased week-over-week on November 2, and were 90% 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 Weekly Unemployment Claims Are Recovering the Quickest.
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.
South Carolina saw the 2nd fastest recovering numbers over the past week and North Carolina saw the 25th fastest in the nation.
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 | 38 |
| West Virginia | 3 | 10 |
| Vermont | 4 | 6 |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | 7 |
| Connecticut | 6 | 2 |
| Kentucky | 7 | 45 |
| South Dakota | 8 | 40 |
| New Jersey | 9 | 3 |
| Montana | 10 | 8 |
| Wyoming | 11 | 4 |
| Michigan | 12 | 32 |
| Missouri | 13 | 18 |
| Arkansas | 14 | 12 |
| Iowa | 15 | 5 |
| Utah | 16 | 14 |
| Oklahoma | 17 | 47 |
| Minnesota | 18 | 37 |
| North Dakota | 19 | 23 |
| Wisconsin | 20 | 11 |
| Delaware | 21 | 19 |
| New York | 22 | 22 |
| Maine | 23 | 41 |
| Rhode Island | 24 | 16 |
| North Carolina | 25 | 43 |
| Texas | 26 | 21 |
| Arizona | 27 | 9 |
| District of Columbia | 28 | 25 |
| Ohio | 29 | 24 |
| Nebraska | 30 | 31 |
| Tennessee | 31 | 35 |
| Idaho | 32 | 20 |
| Alabama | 33 | 36 |
| Mississippi | 34 | 42 |
| Maryland | 35 | 27 |
| Georgia | 36 | 51 |
| Colorado | 37 | 34 |
| Hawaii | 38 | 30 |
| New Hampshire | 39 | 49 |
| Washington | 40 | 29 |
| Nevada | 41 | 28 |
| California | 42 | 15 |
| Indiana | 43 | 44 |
| Alaska | 44 | 17 |
| Virginia | 45 | 46 |
| New Mexico | 46 | 33 |
| Louisiana | 47 | 48 |
| Florida | 48 | 50 |
| Massachusetts | 49 | 26 |
| Illinois | 50 | 13 |
| Kansas | 51 | 39 |