Good news: the economy gained 916,000 jobs in March, and the national unemployment rate is now 6%, which is 59% below the peak of 14.7% during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To provide more context at the city level, WalletHub released its report on the Cities Whose Unemployment Rates Are Bouncing Back Most.
This report uses new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which disclosed that it erroneously didn’t count some workers on temporary layoffs as unemployed. Therefore, the real unemployment rate maybe around 7% higher than reported, and our report includes both the official rate and an “adjusted” rate based on this error, according to a news release.
Below, are highlights from the report:
| Most Recovered Cities | |
| 1. Lincoln, NE | 11. West Valley City, UT |
| 2. Rapid City, SD | 12. Manchester, NH |
| 3. Omaha, NE | 13. Missoula, MT |
| 4. Salt Lake City, UT | 14. Springfield, MO |
| 5. Overland Park, KS | 15. Lexington-Fayette, KY |
| 6. Sioux Falls, SD | 16. Madison, WI |
| 7. Huntsville, AL | 17. Burlington, VT |
| 8. South Burlington, VT | 18. Durham, NC |
| 9. Nashua, NH | 19. Nampa, ID |
| 10. Billings, MT | 20. Boise, ID |
To view the full report and your city’s rank, please visit here.
The poverty rate in the U.S. recently reached the highest point since the start of the pandemic, and according to Jill Gonzalez, a WalletHub analyst, “Even though the U.S. poverty rate recently reached the highest point since the start of the pandemic due to high unemployment and the expiration of some unemployment benefits, this number should change soon. The estimate was taken before the American Rescue Plan went into effect, while people were still struggling with a lapse in key support measures for the unemployed.
“Getting people back to work is key to fixing the high poverty rate, too, and as more people get vaccinated and the country continues to reopen, the unemployment rate will decline.”
When asked should cities have more restrictions than states if they see cases rising locally, even if it hurts employment, she added, “Public health should take precedence, so cities can choose to have more restrictions than states if there is a local spike in COVID-19 cases.
“It’s important to keep in mind that local lockdowns are only effective under certain conditions. Unless the flow of people to and from highly-affected areas gets restricted, the virus will spread wherever infected people travel.”
And Los Angeles has experienced the largest number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and the unemployment rate in Los Angeles has been affected she added, “Los Angeles has experienced a 114% increase in unemployment from January 2020 to March 2021.
“This is worse than the average increase of 68%. The overall unemployment rate in Los Angeles is 10.6%, compared to the average of 6.0%.”
Source: WalletHub
