How might the expiration of extra unemployment benefits impact unemployment?
How do red states and blue states compare when it comes to recovery?
New Mexico had unemployment claims last week that were worse than the same week last year.
New unemployment claims decreased week-over-week on August 30, and were 95% 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, along with accompanying videos and audio files.
Key Stats:
- Five states had unemployment claims last week that were lower than before the pandemic: Arkansas, Arizona, South Carolina, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.
- Surprisingly, New Mexico had unemployment claims last week that were worse than the same week last year.
| Most Recovered Last Week | Least Recovered Last Week |
| 1. Arkansas | 42. Alabama |
| 2. South Carolina | 43. Maryland |
| 3. Arizona | 44. District of Columbia |
| 4. Idaho | 45. Michigan |
| 5. Delaware | 46. Indiana |
| 6. Kentucky | 47. Ohio |
| 7. Washington | 48. Rhode Island |
| 8. New Jersey | 49. Virginia |
| 9. Kansas | 50. Louisiana |
| 10. New Hampshire | 51. New Mexico |
To view the full report and your state’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-unemployment-claims/72730
WalletHub Q&A
How might the expiration of extra unemployment benefits impact unemployment?
“The expiration of extra unemployment benefits should help to reduce unemployment. Some people were making more money while unemployed than they did when they were employed, but that will no longer be the case. Therefore, those people will have more of an incentive to seek out employment to make up for the drop in income,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst. “Currently, the U.S. has more job openings than unemployed people, so people brought back to the workforce by the expiration of the extra benefits will have many opportunities to get hired.”
Do you expect the approval of the Pfizer vaccine by the FDA to have any impact on unemployment?
“In the long term, the approval of the Pfizer vaccine by the FDA should help reduce unemployment because more workplaces will make the vaccine mandatory, which in turn will cause more people to get vaccinated. A higher vaccination rate leads to a faster economic recovery, which then leads to greater future hiring,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst. “In the short term, there might be a small increase in unemployment as some people who don’t want to get the vaccine quit their jobs or are fired.”
How do red states and blue states compare when it comes to recovery?
“With an average rank of 28 among the most recovered states, blue states had a worse recovery from unemployment claims last week than red states, which rank 24 on average,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst. “The lower the number of the ranking, the bigger the state’s recovery was.”
How has unemployment in California – the state with the most COVID-19 cases – recovered?
“California’s unemployment claims have experienced the 19th slowest recovery in the U.S. For the week of August 30, California had 61,941 new unemployment claims, a 94% decrease from the peak during the coronavirus pandemic,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst.
