The COVID-19 pandemic has now been a strain on the U.S. for nearly a year, and new unemployment claims increased week-over-week on January 4, up 23% from the previous week. To help add some context to this statistic, WalletHub just released updated rankings for the States Whose Weekly Unemployment Claims Are Increasing the Most, along with accompanying videos and audio files.
To identify which states’ workforces are experiencing the biggest increases in unemployment claims due to COVID-19, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three metrics. Below, you can see highlights from the report, along with a WalletHub Q&A. To see the states most impacted since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, click here.
| Biggest Increase Last Week | Smallest Increase Last Week |
| 1. Kansas | 42. Iowa |
| 2. New Mexico | 43. Connecticut |
| 3. Florida | 44. Wyoming |
| 4. Louisiana | 45. Pennsylvania |
| 5. Illinois | 46. Idaho |
| 6. Virginia | 47. South Carolina |
| 7. Mississippi | 48. Michigan |
| 8. Tennessee | 49. West Virginia |
| 9. Colorado | 50. New Jersey |
| 10. Arizona | 51. Kentucky |
Weekly Claims Better Than 2019:
- Kentucky
- District of Columbia
