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Damage Report: Coronavirus’ Effect on Employment in Every State
Damage Report: Coronavirus’ Effect on Employment in Every State · GOBankingRates
Joel Anderson
Updated 16 min read

Before the coronavirus pandemic struck, the unemployment rate in the U.S. had been near a 50-year low. Jobs were still being added in January even after the first confirmed case appeared in the country. In fact, the unemployment rate dipped slightly in February to 3.5% from 3.6% in the previous month.

By March, though, President Donald Trump had declared a national emergency because of the outbreak. As states issued stay-at-home orders, the economy took a hit. The unemployment rate climbed to 4.4% in March as the number of unemployed workers jumped from 1.4 million to 7.1 million, and in April another 15 million-plus people lost their jobs, sending the unemployment rate soaring to 14.7%. Since then, though, things appear to be bouncing back significantly — at least on paper. While there remains debate over just how to measure unemployment in the present situation, the national rate of 10.7% shows that things have improved significantly in a matter of months — something you can rarely say when you’re looking at double-digit unemployment.

Although job losses have been widespread, some industries have been hit harder than others, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And a GOBankingRates analysis has found that certain states have seen their unemployment rates spike higher than others.

For this study, GOBankingRates measured the early effects of the coronavirus on employment in every state using data from the BLS. First, GOBankingRates found the year-over-year change in the unemployment rate in every state from July 2019 to July 2020. Then, it found the change in the unemployment rate from January 2020, before the coronavirus crisis began to impact the U.S. economy, through the end of July.

The states were then ranked from smallest to largest in terms of how much the unemployment rate increased from January to July. Find out if your state was among the hardest hit, and see which states have a better chance of bouncing back from the coronavirus unemployment crisis.

Last updated: Aug. 25, 2020

50. Kentucky

Unemployment year over year

  • July 2019 unemployment rate: 4.3%

  • July 2020 unemployment rate: 5.7%

  • Year-over-year percentage change in unemployment rate: 32.56%

Unemployment in Q1 2020

  • January 2020 unemployment rate: 4.3%

  • Percentage change in unemployment rate by end of July: 32.56%

49. Nebraska

Unemployment year over year

  • July 2019 unemployment rate: 3.1%

  • July 2020 unemployment rate: 4.8%

  • Year-over-year percentage change in unemployment rate: 54.84%

Unemployment in Q1 2020

  • January 2020 unemployment rate: 2.9%

  • Percentage change in unemployment rate by end of July: 65.52%

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