New unemployment claims decreased by 2.2% week-over-week on August 26, yet were 5.1% higher compared to the same week last year. 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:
- Every state had unemployment claims last week that were lower than in the previous week except for Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Kansas, Arkansas, Alaska, Connecticut, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Kentucky, Colorado, Wyoming, Minnesota, West Virginia, Illinois, Maine, Tennessee and the District of Columbia.
- Surprisingly, 27 states – (including Massachusetts, North Dakota, and Wisconsin) and the District of Columbia had unemployment claims last week that were worse than the same week last year.
| Decreased Most Last Week | Decreased Least Last Week |
| 1. Delaware | 42. Oregon |
| 2. Ohio | 43. Michigan |
| 3. Vermont | 44. California |
| 4. New Hampshire | 45. Pennsylvania |
| 5. Virginia | 46. Alaska |
| 6. Indiana | 47. Nevada |
| 7. Utah | 48. Kansas |
| 8. North Carolina | 49. Wisconsin |
| 9. Mississippi | 50. Rhode Island |
| 10. Louisiana | 51. Massachusetts |
