New unemployment claims increased slightly week-over-week on July 25 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, along with accompanying videos and audio files.
Key Stats:
- Every state had unemployment claims last week that were lower than in the previous week except for Maryland, Colorado, California, Minnesota, Maine, Oregon, Indiana, Alaska, Virginia, Vermont, North Carolina, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Nevada, Idaho, Iowa, North Dakota, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia.
- Surprisingly, 6 states (including Connecticut, West Virginia, and South Carolina) had unemployment claims last week that were worse than the same week last year.
- The following states had unemployment claims last week that were lower than in the same week pre-pandemic (2019): New Hampshire, Illinois, Delaware, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Maine, Washington, Kansas, Maryland, Arizona, Kentucky, South Dakota, Vermont, Montana, New Jersey, Florida, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, and the District of Columbia.
| Decreased Most Last Week | Decreased Least Last Week |
| 1. Kentucky | 42. North Carolina |
| 2. New Hampshire | 43. Rhode Island |
| 3. Kansas | 44. Iowa |
| 4. Mississippi | 45. Hawaii |
| 5. Massachusetts | 46. Idaho |
| 6. Louisiana | 47. Nevada |
| 7. Illinois | 48. North Dakota |
| 8. Alabama | 49. West Virginia |
| 9. Wyoming | 50. Oklahoma |
| 10. Arkansas | 51. Connecticut |
