Reprinted with permission from WalletHub
April’s jobs report showed a slight slowdown in growth. The economy gained 428,000 nonfarm payroll jobs, the same as the previous month. In April, there were notable gains in sectors including leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, transportation, and warehousing.
Now, the U.S. unemployment rate sits at 3.6%, which is still slightly higher than it was before the pandemic but is far lower than the nearly historic high of 14.7% in April 2020. This overall drop can be attributed largely to a combination of vaccinations and states removing restrictions. It will take more time for us to reduce the unemployment rate to pre-pandemic levels than it did for the virus to reverse over a decade of job growth, though.
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 six key metrics that compare unemployment rate statistics from the latest month for which data is available (April 2022) to key dates in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
| Overall Rank | State | Unemployment Rate (April 2022) | Change in Unemployment (April 2022 vs April 2019) | Change in Unemployment (April 2022 vs January 2020) | Change in Unemployment (April 2022 vs April 2020) | Change in Unemployment (April 2022 vs April 2021) | Not Seasonally Adjusted Continued Claims (April 2022 vs April 2019) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Utah | 1.9% | -21.0% | -20.1% | -79.6% | -32.0% | -30.0% |
| 2 | Nebraska | 1.9% | -33.7% | -35.7% | -76.1% | -24.6% | -27.7% |
| 3 | Indiana | 2.2% | -33.8% | -36.6% | -86.6% | -47.7% | 45.6% |
| 4 | Montana | 2.3% | -30.4% | -35.5% | -80.0% | -34.1% | -33.6% |
| 5 | Minnesota | 2.2% | -34.3% | -43.1% | -75.2% | -36.5% | -7.0% |
| 6 | New Hampshire | 2.3% | -10.6% | -15.2% | -85.5% | -38.9% | -47.2% |
| 7 | Kansas | 2.4% | -23.7% | -24.1% | -80.5% | -31.5% | -50.2% |
| 8 | South Dakota | 2.3% | -15.0% | -9.8% | -72.6% | -25.6% | -32.9% |
| 9 | Vermont | 2.5% | 10.1% | -9.4% | -84.3% | -33.0% | -43.7% |
| 10 | Oklahoma | 2.7% | -8.6% | -11.2% | -77.6% | -39.7% | -17.7% |
| 11 | Alabama | 2.8% | -14.2% | -15.8% | -78.9% | -22.5% | -74.0% |
| 12 | Idaho | 2.6% | -5.4% | -9.8% | -77.0% | -31.3% | -34.0% |
| 13 | Arizona | 3.2% | -30.0% | -33.4% | -75.7% | -41.9% | -26.6% |
| 14 | Wisconsin | 2.8% | -8.3% | -7.3% | -79.5% | -33.2% | -26.8% |
| 15 | Rhode Island | 3.2% | -8.0% | -13.3% | -82.0% | -48.0% | -20.3% |
| 16 | Virginia | 3.0% | 2.9% | 9.9% | -74.8% | -29.6% | -60.8% |
| 17 | West Virginia | 3.6% | -24.9% | -30.3% | -76.0% | -34.8% | -41.3% |
| 18 | Florida | 3.0% | -6.5% | 11.3% | -74.1% | -38.7% | -2.1% |
| 19 | Tennessee | 3.2% | -2.7% | -8.1% | -78.5% | -30.6% | -24.4% |
| 20 | Iowa | 3.0% | 16.7% | 11.8% | -71.8% | -32.0% | -48.2% |
| 21 | Arkansas | 3.2% | -7.7% | -11.6% | -69.3% | -29.4% | -32.1% |
| 22 | North Carolina | 3.4% | -7.2% | -7.9% | -73.7% | -31.3% | -30.5% |
| 23 | Georgia | 3.1% | -14.4% | -12.1% | -73.4% | -27.3% | 16.3% |
| 24 | North Dakota | 2.8% | 25.9% | 32.4% | -67.2% | -30.8% | -7.8% |
| 25 | Mississippi | 4.1% | -23.7% | -26.9% | -72.2% | -34.0% | -40.3% |
| 26 | Missouri | 3.4% | 13.0% | 3.1% | -68.4% | -28.1% | -31.6% |
| 27 | Wyoming | 3.3% | -2.1% | -30.9% | -38.5% | -31.8% | -22.1% |
| 28 | Maine | 3.3% | 22.8% | 11.8% | -61.9% | -33.2% | -19.0% |
| 29 | Oregon | 3.7% | 1.5% | 14.5% | -69.7% | -35.9% | -21.9% |
| 30 | South Carolina | 3.3% | 10.6% | 23.8% | -70.5% | -20.3% | -27.5% |
| 31 | Kentucky | 3.9% | -5.3% | -4.6% | -76.4% | -15.8% | -52.6% |
| 32 | Louisiana | 4.1% | -6.5% | -20.3% | -67.8% | -30.9% | -27.7% |
| 33 | Ohio | 4.0% | 0.3% | -12.1% | -74.3% | -27.4% | -19.2% |
| 34 | Washington | 4.1% | -6.3% | 6.4% | -75.9% | -25.8% | -27.7% |
| 35 | Colorado | 3.6% | 45.0% | 38.8% | -66.8% | -38.8% | -3.9% |
| 36 | New Jersey | 4.1% | 28.0% | 13.4% | -72.8% | -41.5% | -8.0% |
| 37 | Michigan | 4.3% | 2.2% | 11.2% | -79.8% | -29.7% | -11.1% |
| 38 | Massachusetts | 4.1% | 30.0% | 36.6% | -74.1% | -34.8% | -20.8% |
| 39 | New York | 4.5% | 14.8% | 9.7% | -72.1% | -43.1% | 8.3% |
| 40 | California | 4.6% | 12.0% | 11.0% | -70.0% | -43.4% | -5.0% |
| 41 | Maryland | 4.2% | 29.8% | -1.2% | -56.0% | -25.4% | -38.4% |
| 42 | Illinois | 4.6% | 8.6% | 23.8% | -73.3% | -29.3% | -22.4% |
| 43 | Pennsylvania | 4.8% | 7.8% | -1.8% | -70.5% | -30.6% | -27.8% |
| 44 | Nevada | 5.0% | 18.3% | 28.6% | -81.4% | -42.0% | -22.2% |
| 45 | Texas | 4.3% | 29.7% | 29.2% | -62.8% | -29.1% | -9.8% |
| 46 | Alaska | 4.9% | -9.3% | -3.3% | -56.1% | -29.2% | -30.7% |
| 47 | Connecticut | 4.4% | 22.8% | 24.3% | -42.7% | -35.3% | -36.2% |
| 48 | Hawaii | 4.2% | 43.3% | 98.3% | -80.5% | -33.0% | -1.0% |
| 49 | Delaware | 4.5% | 27.4% | 27.0% | -63.4% | -21.5% | -26.6% |
| 50 | New Mexico | 5.3% | 3.5% | -1.4% | -41.6% | -27.4% | -10.0% |
| 51 | District of Columbia | 5.8% | -1.3% | 3.8% | -48.5% | -13.4% | -37.1% |
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