Georgia had the largest increase in initial unemployment insurance claims due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an analysis released June 4 by WalletHub, a personal finance website.
To identify states hit hardest by unemployment claims, analysts compared the 50 U.S. states and District of Columbia across one metric: the increase in the number of initial unemployment insurance claims between the weeks of March 16 and May 25 this year compared to the weeks of March 18 to May 27 in 2019. More information about the methodology is available here.
Ten states with the biggest unemployment growth, according to the analysis:
1. Georgia
2. Florida
3. New Hampshire
4. Kentucky
5. Virginia
6. North Carolina
7. Louisiana
8. Indiana
9. South Dakota
10. South Carolina
Ten states with the smallest unemployment growth, according to the analysis:
1. Oregon
2. Connecticut
3. Alaska
4. California
5. Vermont
6. Wisconsin
7. Wyoming
8. Arkansas
9. Illinois
10. Arizona