Many states are struggling to recover from new unemployment claims, but California more than others.

With early October’s claims higher than at the start of 2020, according to WalletHub’s recent state rankings have changed for the States Whose Unemployment Claims Are Recovering the Quickest

Here are some of the key findings from the report:

Key Stats:

  • Weekly unemployment claims in California increased by 104.67% compared to the same week in 2019. This was the 5th biggest increase in the U.S.
  • Weekly unemployment claims in California increased by 85.75% compared to the start of 2020. This was the 3rd biggest increase in the U.S.
  • Weekly unemployment claims in California decreased by 69.84% compared to the same week last year. This was the 22nd biggest decrease in the U.S.

Various experts weighed in on the issue below.

What do you make of the recent rise in unemployment claims?

“We should not be too worried about the recent rise in unemployment claims, as they are on a sharp downward trend overall. The peak was 6.1 million claims in a single week in March 2020, and we’ve brought that number down to 352,000 as of the week of September 25, 2021,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst. “The most recent number of weekly unemployment claims is comparable to the amount we had in early October 2013. However, it is still around 150,000 above the record low we saw at the beginning of 2020.”

How might the expiration of extra unemployment benefits impact unemployment?

“The expiration of extra unemployment benefits should help to reduce unemployment. Some people were making more money while unemployed than they did when they were employed, but that will no longer be the case. Therefore, those people will have more of an incentive to seek out employment to make up for the drop in income,” Gonzalez added.  “Currently, the U.S. has more job openings than unemployed people, so people brought back to the workforce by the expiration of the extra benefits will have many opportunities to get hired.”

How do red states and blue states compare when it comes to recovery?

“With an average rank of 29 among the most recovered states, blue states had a worse recovery from unemployment claims last week than red states, which rank 23 on average,” Gonzalez said. “The lower the number of the ranking, the bigger the state’s recovery was.”

How has unemployment in California recovered?

“California’s unemployment claims have experienced the 5th slowest recovery in the U.S. For the week of September 27, California had 68,208 new unemployment claims, a 94% decrease from the peak during the coronavirus pandemic,” Gonzalez said.

To view the full report and your state’s rank, please visit here.

Source: WalletHub