Many states have been hit by a surge in COVID-19 cases, and as a result new unemployment claims increased week-over-week on November 30, up 19% from the previous week. To help add some context to this statistic, the website WalletHub just released updated rankings for the States Whose Weekly Unemployment Claims Are Increasing the Most.
To identify which states’ workforces are experiencing the biggest increases in unemployment claims due to COVID-19, the site compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three metrics.
Over the past week, South Carolina saw the smallest increase in unemployment claims in America, and North Carolina saw the 27th smallest increase:
States with Biggest Increases in Unemployment Claims
State | Increased Most Since Last Week | Increased Most Since Start of COVID-19 Crisis |
---|---|---|
Kansas | 1 | 10 |
New Mexico | 2 | 13 |
Illinois | 3 | 38 |
Colorado | 4 | 14 |
Indiana | 5 | 8 |
Virginia | 6 | 5 |
Florida | 7 | 2 |
Alaska | 8 | 31 |
New Hampshire | 9 | 3 |
California | 10 | 37 |
Mississippi | 11 | 11 |
Nevada | 12 | 22 |
Ohio | 13 | 28 |
Louisiana | 14 | 4 |
Rhode Island | 15 | 34 |
Minnesota | 16 | 24 |
Georgia | 17 | 1 |
Hawaii | 18 | 19 |
District of Columbia | 19 | 27 |
Texas | 20 | 30 |
Massachusetts | 21 | 25 |
Nebraska | 22 | 23 |
Maryland | 23 | 21 |
Washington | 24 | 26 |
Oklahoma | 25 | 7 |
Arizona | 26 | 41 |
North Carolina | 27 | 9 |
New York | 28 | 29 |
Oregon | 29 | 51 |
Vermont | 30 | 46 |
Montana | 31 | 45 |
Tennessee | 32 | 16 |
Iowa | 33 | 47 |
Maine | 34 | 12 |
North Dakota | 35 | 32 |
Kentucky | 36 | 6 |
Michigan | 37 | 20 |
Alabama | 38 | 15 |
Idaho | 39 | 36 |
Wisconsin | 40 | 43 |
Delaware | 41 | 35 |
Missouri | 42 | 33 |
Utah | 43 | 39 |
Arkansas | 44 | 40 |
Connecticut | 45 | 50 |
Pennsylvania | 46 | 44 |
South Dakota | 47 | 18 |
West Virginia | 48 | 42 |
New Jersey | 49 | 48 |
Wyoming | 50 | 49 |
South Carolina | 51 | 17 |
Rank 1 = Biggest Increase