The U.S. is making significant progress in the fight against COVID-19 with the distribution of the vaccine and boosters, and this has been reflected in the job market, as new unemployment claims decreased week-over-week on January 24. There are currently 6.3 million Americans unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in total, though, and it’s important to look at some key stats for the latest week to get the full picture:
- There were 238,000 new unemployment claims nationwide, which is a lot fewer than the 6.1 million during the peak of the pandemic (a 96% reduction).
- The good news is that every state had unemployment claims last week that were better than the same week last year.
- 29 states had unemployment claims last week that were lower than before the pandemic except for Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Michigan, Hawaii, Ohio, Utah, Connecticut, West Virginia, California, Wyoming, Alaska, Georgia, Nevada, Texas, Minnesota, Colorado, North Carolina, Mississippi, Massachusetts, and D.C.
New York is having a successful recovery from new unemployment claims, with last week’s claims lower than in the same week in 2019, according to WalletHub’s updated rankings for the States Whose Unemployment Claims Are Recovering the Quickest, along with accompanying videos and audio files.
Key Stats:
- Weekly unemployment claims in New York decreased by 1.15% compared to the same week in 2019. This was the 25th smallest decrease in the U.S.
- Weekly unemployment claims in New York decreased by 59.67% compared to the start of 2020. This was the 3rd biggest decrease in the U.S.
- Weekly unemployment claims in New York decreased by 76.63% compared to the same week last year. This was the 13th biggest decrease in the U.S.
To view the full report and your state’s rank, click here.