New unemployment claims increased week-over-week on April 24 in the face of high inflation and the threat of a recession, up 5.7% from the previous week. To help add some context to this statistic, WalletHub just released updated rankings for the States Where Unemployment Claims Are Increasing the Most.

Key Stats:
While there was an increase in weekly claims nationally, 16 states (including Indiana, New York, and Delaware) and the District of Columbia had unemployment claims last week that were better than the same week last year. Hawaii and New Hampshire recorded no change.

The following states had unemployment claims last week that were higher than in the previous week: North Carolina, North Dakota, New Mexico, Missouri, Oregon, Nevada, Indiana, Hawaii, California, Florida, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Massachusetts, South Dakota, Iowa, Oklahoma, Colorado, Alaska, Virginia, New Hampshire, Kentucky and the District of Columbia.

The following states had unemployment claims last week that were higher than in the same week pre-pandemic (2019): Nebraska, Tennessee, Alabama, South Dakota, California, North Carolina, Idaho, Texas, Illinois, Oregon, Minnesota, Georgia, Virginia, Indiana, Utah, Colorado, Kentucky, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

Biggest Increase Last Week Smallest Increase Last Week
1. Kentucky 42. Montana
2. Massachusetts 43. Ohio
3. New Hampshire 44. South Carolina
4. Colorado 45. Mississippi
5. Virginia 46. Maine
6. Alaska 47. Maryland
7. Iowa 48. Arkansas
8. California 49. Wyoming
9. Oregon 50. New York
10. Minnesota 51. Delaware

To view the full report and your state’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-unemployment-claims/72730

Please let me know if you have any questions or if you would like to schedule a phone, Skype or in-studio interview with one of our analysts. Full data sets for specific states are also available upon request. In addition, feel free to embed this YouTube video summarizing the study on your website. You can also use or edit these raw files (audio and video) as you see fit.

WalletHub Q&A

With Mother's Day coming up, what can be said about working moms returning to work since the pandemic?

“With Mother's Day coming up, it's good to see that working moms are once again thriving since the pandemic. Women’s employment has now recovered to pre-pandemic levels, with their overall employment at 99.9 percent,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub Analyst. “Women with children under 18 at home saw particular improvement in employment over the course of 2022, thanks to widespread reopening of schools, expanded child care funding and plenty of job opportunities.”

What job types are experiencing the highest levels of unemployment and why?

“Certain job types are still seeing higher levels of unemployment currently. For instance, construction jobs have very high unemployment numbers right now due to building activity slowdown, with higher interest rates lowering demand for new individual housing,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub Analyst.
“Farming, fishing, and forestry jobs are also seeing high unemployment, which has more to do with technological advances and less about the current economy or pandemic recovery.”

Despite recent layoffs, unemployment is still low. Why is that?

“Despite recent layoffs, the number of unemployment claims has actually been dropping. That’s because there are still many more jobs than unemployed people, at about two openings per jobless person, according to the BLS. It’s important to remember that most recent layoffs have been in the tech sector,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub Analyst. “Tech companies are more sensitive to rising interest rates because of how they're funded, so it’s no surprise they’re also the quickest to impose layoffs. Just because one sector is doing it, doesn’t necessarily mean the rest will follow.”

How would a potential recession affect unemployment?

“A potential recession would negatively affect unemployment significantly. Losing a job is never good, but when you combine it with such high inflation it can really become disastrous,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub Analyst. “Even Americans with jobs right now are struggling to afford essentials like food and gas. If those numbers would climb while more people become unemployed, we might see an economy in deep recession.”

How do red states and blue states compare when it comes to new unemployment claims?

“With an average rank of 24 among the states with the biggest increase in unemployment claims, blue states fared worse last week than red states, which rank 28 on average,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub Analyst. “The lower the number of the ranking, the bigger the increase in the state's new unemployment claims was.”

How has unemployment in the Mountain states – the division with the highest inflation growth in the past 12 months – been impacted?

“Among Mountain states, Wyoming’s unemployment claims have experienced the 3rd smallest decrease in the U.S. For the week of April 24, Wyoming had 276 new unemployment claims, a 31% decrease from the previous week. On the other hand, unemployment claims in Colorado have experienced a 23% increase for the same period.”

The above Q&A is also provided in audio format and can be edited as needed.