As the U.S. has embraced social distancing policies in order to minimize the spread of COVID-19, many businesses have shut their doors either voluntarily or by government order. While some businesses have dealt with the crisis by having employees work from home, that option is not available to everyone. Millions of Americans have found themselves temporarily or permanently out of a job as a result, illustrated by the extremely high number of initial unemployment insurance claims, at over 6.6 million, for the week of March 30.
While Americans can look forward to stimulus checks in the coming weeks, those who are jobless will likely still struggle. However, not all states have experienced the same levels of unemployment due to the pandemic. In order to find out the states whose unemployment percentages are most and least affected, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across two key metrics. These metrics compare unemployment claim increases for the week of March 30 to both the same week in 2019 and the first week of 2020. Read on for our ranking of the states, additional commentary from a panel of experts and a full description of our methodology.
States with the Biggest Increases in Unemployment Due to Coronavirus:
| Overall Rank | State | Increase in Unemployment Claims (2020 vs. 2019)* | Increase in Unemployment Claims (April vs. January 2020)** |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Louisiana | 6118.90% | 6111.40% |
| 2 | New Hampshire | 7186.52% | 5148.41% |
| 3 | Virginia | 6747.65% | 4597.55% |
| 4 | Georgia | 8262.24% | 2175.35% |
| 5 | Mississippi | 4800.32% | 3847.71% |
| 6 | Michigan | 5659.41% | 2813.94% |
| 7 | North Carolina | 4282.70% | 3821.69% |
| 8 | Nevada | 3877.34% | 3427.61% |
| 9 | North Dakota | 5816.54% | 1825.00% |
| 10 | Indiana | 4298.91% | 2913.96% |
| 11 | South Dakota | 5435.66% | 1888.94% |
| 12 | Arizona | 2528.53% | 4120.59% |
| 13 | Hawaii | 4030.89% | 2808.60% |
| 14 | Maryland | 4227.48% | 2597.34% |
| 15 | Nebraska | 4448.05% | 2337.49% |
| 16 | District of Columbia | 3406.38% | 3100.21% |
| 17 | Tennessee | 2589.69% | 3665.92% |
| 18 | Florida | 2553.62% | 3578.76% |
| 19 | New Mexico | 2944.16% | 3229.91% |
| 20 | Kentucky | 4122.60% | 2163.48% |
| 21 | Kansas | 3566.62% | 2364.39% |
| 22 | Delaware | 3913.40% | 2055.77% |
| 23 | Maine | 4044.93% | 1741.91% |
| 24 | Alabama | 3552.96% | 2109.81% |
| 25 | Ohio | 3629.53% | 1983.67% |
| 26 | Vermont | 3016.76% | 2278.82% |
| 27 | Rhode Island | 4123.47% | 1332.81% |
| 28 | Utah | 3123.78% | 2078.92% |
| 29 | California | 2454.59% | 2420.29% |
| 30 | Arkansas | 2610.76% | 2267.70% |
| 31 | Iowa | 3682.81% | 1368.25% |
| 32 | Texas | 2296.94% | 2437.66% |
| 33 | South Carolina | 3931.20% | 1037.97% |
| 34 | Minnesota | 3443.34% | 1423.64% |
| 35 | Massachusetts | 3149.12% | 1374.87% |
| 36 | Washington | 2707.22% | 1664.04% |
| 37 | Colorado | 2290.65% | 1771.41% |
| 38 | Oklahoma | 2425.89% | 1637.14% |
| 39 | Idaho | 3173.94% | 915.29% |
| 40 | New Jersey | 2675.36% | 1295.74% |
| 41 | Missouri | 3022.36% | 1002.48% |
| 42 | Illinois | 2163.86% | 1605.92% |
| 43 | Montana | 2607.85% | 1186.88% |
| 44 | Pennsylvania | 2449.82% | 939.34% |
| 45 | New York | 2639.40% | 669.85% |
| 46 | Alaska | 1625.03% | 1466.77% |
| 47 | West Virginia | 1986.28% | 804.41% |
| 48 | Wisconsin | 1847.15% | 715.12% |
| 49 | Wyoming | 1324.42% | 640.18% |
| 50 | Oregon | 1167.82% | 743.70% |
| 51 | Connecticut | 1294.74% | 325.60% |
*Refers to the increase in the number of unemployment insurance initial claims in the 14th week of 2020 compared to the 14th week of 2019.
**Refers to the increase in the number of unemployment insurance initial claims in the 14th week of 2020 compared to the 1st week of 2020.
Information / Data provided by Wallethub – for more go to: https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-biggest-increase-in-unemployment-due-to-coronavirus/72730/