Study: States Having the Quickest Recovery of Unemployment Claims

Staff Report

Friday, February 3rd, 2023

New unemployment claims decreased slightly week-over-week on January 23 amid high inflation and the threat of a recession. To help add some context to these statistics, WalletHub just released updated rankings for the States Where Unemployment Claims Are Decreasing the Most

Key Stats:

  • 24 states had unemployment claims last week that were lower than in the previous week: Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, Rhode Island, Maine, Missouri, Michigan, Idaho, California, Louisiana, Alabama, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Arizona, North Carolina, Delaware, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Washington and Connecticut.

  • Every state had unemployment claims last week that were lower than in the same week pre-pandemic (2019) except for Minnesota, Idaho, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina, New York, Indiana, Texas, Georgia, Colorado, Oregon and Utah.

  • Surprisingly, 13 states – including South Carolina, Colorado, and Utah – had unemployment claims last week that were worse than the same week last year.

Decreased Most Last Week

Decreased Least Last Week

1. Kentucky

42. Hawaii

2. West Virginia

43. Wisconsin

3. Maryland

44. Alaska

4. Arkansas

45. Kansas

5. New Hampshire

46. New York

6. Oklahoma

47. Colorado

7. Delaware

48. Montana

8. Maine

49. Georgia

9. District of Columbia

50. Oregon

10. Florida

51. Utah

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