STUDY: New York State has the 5th worst unemployment rate recovery in the US
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) - With the United States gaining just under 200,000 jobs in December, below the previous month's 249,000, Wallethub released updated rankings Tuesday for the states whose unemployment rates are bouncing back the most. These rankings are meant to illustrate which areas of the country have had the best pandemic recovery so far.
In order to identify the states whose unemployment rates are bouncing back most, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on five key metrics that compare unemployment rate statistics from the latest month for which data is available (December 2021) to key dates in 2019 and 2020. The updated rankings place New York State in 47th place among those states whose unemployment rates are bouncing back the most.
Unemployment Recovery in New York (1=Most Recovered, 25=Avg.):
- 61.18% Change in Unemployment (December 2021 vs December 2019)
- 572,626 unemployed people in December 2021 vs 355,273 in December 2019;
- 5th worst recovery in the U.S.
- 59.10% Change in Unemployment (December 2021 vs January 2020)
- 572,626 unemployed people in December 2021 vs 359,918 in January 2020;
- 5th worst recovery in the U.S.
- -28.95% Change in Unemployment (December 2021 vs December 2020)
- 572,626 unemployed people in December 2021 vs 805,934 in December 2020;
- 17th worst recovery in the U.S.
- 4.46% Change in Not Seasonally Adjusted Continued Claims (December 2021 vs December 2019)
- 144,913 continued claims in December 2021 vs 138,720 in December 2019;
- 12th worst recovery in the U.S.
- 6.2% Unemployment Rate (December 2021)
- 4th highest unemployment rate in the U.S.
Coming in at number one was the state of Nebraska, where the unemployment rate stands at just 1.7%. State-by-state rankings were as follows:
| Overall Rank | State | Unemployment Rate (December 2021) | Change in Unemployment (December 2021 vs December 2019) | Change in Unemployment (December 2021 vs January 2020) | Change in Unemployment (December 2021 vs December 2020) | Not Seasonally Adjusted Continued Claims (December 2021 vs December 2019) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nebraska | 1.7% | -43.8% | -44.3% | -50.4% | 15.1% |
| 2 | Utah | 1.9% | -18.9% | -20.3% | -40.3% | -23.7% |
| 3 | Oklahoma | 2.3% | -24.3% | -24.8% | -49.1% | -21.6% |
| 4 | Montana | 2.5% | -29.9% | -31.0% | -39.1% | -26.0% |
| 5 | Georgia | 2.6% | -20.4% | -21.8% | -49.9% | 0.1% |
| 6 | Idaho | 2.4% | -2.4% | -3.2% | -36.2% | -17.8% |
| 7 | New Hampshire | 2.6% | -1.6% | -1.7% | -33.1% | -23.5% |
| 8 | Vermont | 2.5% | -6.3% | -5.8% | -27.0% | -15.4% |
| 9 | South Dakota | 2.6% | -9.7% | -9.6% | -21.5% | -27.2% |
| 10 | Virginia | 3.2% | 24.1% | 24.2% | -42.2% | -74.8% |
| 11 | Arkansas | 3.1% | -12.7% | -15.0% | -36.6% | -26.4% |
| 12 | West Virginia | 3.7% | -27.0% | -28.3% | -46.2% | -48.1% |
| 13 | Alabama | 3.1% | 15.8% | 17.6% | -34.3% | -63.9% |
| 14 | Wisconsin | 2.8% | -15.7% | -15.6% | -29.1% | -3.9% |
| 15 | Wyoming | 3.3% | -21.7% | -26.8% | -36.4% | -28.0% |
| 16 | Indiana | 2.7% | -16.4% | -17.1% | -42.7% | 53.3% |
| 17 | Kansas | 3.3% | 6.5% | 5.6% | -30.4% | -40.3% |
| 18 | Minnesota | 3.1% | -2.3% | -5.0% | -34.8% | 10.2% |
| 19 | North Dakota | 3.1% | 34.4% | 34.4% | -35.2% | -18.4% |
| 20 | Missouri | 3.3% | -6.1% | -7.7% | -24.5% | -5.7% |
| 21 | Kentucky | 3.9% | -7.5% | -8.1% | -28.9% | -46.4% |
| 22 | North Carolina | 3.7% | 5.7% | 4.9% | -39.0% | -14.5% |
| 23 | Arizona | 4.1% | -11.0% | -12.6% | -38.1% | -29.8% |
| 24 | South Carolina | 3.5% | 44.4% | 36.9% | -35.3% | -27.0% |
| 25 | Tennessee | 3.8% | 6.6% | 2.5% | -31.6% | -12.5% |
| 26 | Massachusetts | 3.9% | 33.9% | 36.0% | -53.9% | -2.1% |
| 27 | Mississippi | 4.5% | -20.2% | -21.4% | -32.3% | -31.3% |
| 28 | Iowa | 3.5% | 18.0% | 17.4% | -3.3% | -31.0% |
| 29 | Oregon | 4.1% | 27.4% | 24.5% | -33.7% | 7.9% |
| 30 | Ohio | 4.5% | 0.1% | -4.2% | -20.1% | -26.4% |
| 31 | Louisiana | 4.8% | -8.2% | -10.0% | -40.6% | 7.0% |
| 32 | Washington | 4.5% | 15.3% | 12.6% | -26.1% | -19.9% |
| 33 | Rhode Island | 4.8% | 30.8% | 25.6% | -37.6% | -0.2% |
| 34 | Pennsylvania | 5.4% | 9.4% | 7.0% | -24.7% | -32.0% |
| 35 | Texas | 5.0% | 43.6% | 41.1% | -26.6% | -23.9% |
| 36 | Florida | 4.4% | 38.9% | 36.3% | -9.5% | 11.7% |
| 37 | Maryland | 5.0% | 43.4% | 40.9% | -26.2% | -11.5% |
| 38 | Delaware | 5.0% | 22.4% | 17.1% | -12.7% | -16.9% |
| 39 | Colorado | 4.8% | 88.7% | 82.9% | -29.6% | -10.8% |
| 40 | District of Columbia | 5.8% | 16.5% | 15.6% | -34.1% | -16.5% |
| 41 | Illinois | 5.3% | 50.5% | 50.7% | -32.1% | -6.0% |
| 42 | Michigan | 5.6% | 44.2% | 44.5% | -33.8% | -19.5% |
| 43 | Maine | 4.7% | 60.8% | 53.1% | -4.7% | 5.4% |
| 44 | New Mexico | 5.8% | 15.2% | 12.5% | -32.5% | 13.8% |
| 45 | Connecticut | 5.8% | 51.7% | 49.7% | -30.8% | -25.9% |
| 46 | Alaska | 5.7% | 15.1% | 14.6% | -12.6% | -13.3% |
| 47 | New York | 6.2% | 61.2% | 59.1% | -28.9% | 4.5% |
| 48 | California | 6.5% | 53.4% | 50.3% | -29.2% | 8.7% |
| 49 | New Jersey | 6.3% | 69.8% | 67.4% | -17.0% | -6.1% |
| 50 | Nevada | 6.4% | 71.3% | 69.5% | -20.2% | 10.2% |
| 51 | Hawaii | 5.7% | 165.2% | 168.9% | -45.0% | 46.6% |
In order to determine the states whose unemployment rates are bouncing back most, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across two categories. In the first category, they compared the change in unemployment for the latest month for which data existed (December 2021) to December 2019, December 2020 and January 2020, in order to show the impact since 2019 and since the beginning of last year. WalletHub also compared not seasonally adjusted continued claims in December 2021 to December 2019. In the second category, the state’s overall unemployment rate was researched. Then, the average of those categories was used to rank-order the states.
For more information, visit WalletHub.com.