Though April’s jobs report only showed 266,000 jobs gained compared to the 1 million expected, new unemployment claims decreased week-over-week on May 10, and were 93% 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.
South Carolina faired the second best in the nation according to the report, and North Carolina cracked the top half, coming in at #24 over the past week and #4 since the start of the pandemic.
States Whose Unemployment Claims Are Recovering the Quickest
| State | Recovered Most Since Last Week | Recovered Most Since Start of COVID-19 Crisis |
|---|---|---|
| Vermont | 1 | 49 |
| South Carolina | 2 | 3 |
| Arkansas | 3 | 12 |
| Kansas | 4 | 5 |
| New York | 5 | 32 |
| Kentucky | 6 | 17 |
| Connecticut | 7 | 30 |
| Arizona | 8 | 8 |
| Montana | 9 | 29 |
| Missouri | 10 | 25 |
| New Hampshire | 11 | 1 |
| South Dakota | 12 | 2 |
| Massachusetts | 13 | 31 |
| Minnesota | 14 | 7 |
| Maine | 15 | 9 |
| Pennsylvania | 16 | 11 |
| North Dakota | 17 | 24 |
| Iowa | 18 | 18 |
| Hawaii | 19 | 20 |
| Nebraska | 20 | 15 |
| Michigan | 21 | 14 |
| Idaho | 22 | 46 |
| Ohio | 23 | 42 |
| North Carolina | 24 | 4 |
| Illinois | 25 | 22 |
| California | 26 | 33 |
| Wisconsin | 27 | 36 |
| Texas | 28 | 39 |
| Mississippi | 29 | 23 |
| New Jersey | 30 | 13 |
| Wyoming | 31 | 41 |
| Oregon | 32 | 37 |
| Nevada | 33 | 34 |
| Colorado | 34 | 27 |
| Alabama | 35 | 35 |
| Washington | 36 | 10 |
| Indiana | 37 | 19 |
| Tennessee | 38 | 28 |
| Maryland | 39 | 26 |
| District of Columbia | 40 | 40 |
| Utah | 41 | 44 |
| Louisiana | 42 | 16 |
| Florida | 43 | 6 |
| Alaska | 44 | 48 |
| Georgia | 45 | 21 |
| Virginia | 46 | 38 |
| New Mexico | 47 | 43 |
| Oklahoma | 48 | 45 |
| West Virginia | 49 | 51 |
| Delaware | 50 | 47 |
| Rhode Island | 51 | 50 |
Rank 1 = Most Recovered