CA Has 6th Slowest Recovery For Weekly Unemployment Claims: Study

CALIFORNIA — California has the sixth slowest recovery for weekly unemployment claims, a new report finds. However, compared to the height of the pandemic, the state is making progress—slowly but surely.

"For the week of Oct. 25, California had 62,266 new unemployment claims, a 94 percent decrease from the peak during the coronavirus pandemic,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst.

The Golden State is currently in good company. Washington, D.C. took the No. 1 spot for having the slowest recovery for weekly unemployment claims.

Here's how California compared to other states that ranked near the bottom:

Least Recovered Last Week

1. District of Columbia
2. Kentucky
3. New Mexico
4. Tennessee
5. Michigan
6. California
7. Alabama
8. Oregon
9. Louisiana (*Tied)
9. Hawaii (*Tied)

According to WalletHub, there are currently 7.7 million Americans unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Twenty-three states had unemployment claims last week that were lower than before the pandemic: Arkansas, Virginia, North Dakota, West Virginia, South Carolina, Delaware, Montana, Vermont, Colorado, Arizona, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Wyoming, Kansas, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Washington, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Ohio, Maryland, and New Jersey.

Surprisingly, Oregon and D.C. had unemployment claims last week that were worse than the same week last year.

Here are the top 10 states that have experienced the fastest recovery for weekly unemployment claims:

Most Recovered Last Week
1. Virginia
2. Arkansas
3. North Dakota
4. Delaware
5. Georgia
6. South Carolina
7. Kansas
8. South Dakota
9. West Virginia
10. Pennsylvania

Meanwhile, California’s unemployment rate held steady at 7.5 percent in September as the state’s employers added 47,400 non-farm payroll jobs, according to data released last month by the California Employment Development Department.

The number of unemployed Californians was 1,418,800 in September, a decrease of 12,700 over the month and down 531,300 in comparison to September of last year.

To identify which states’ workforces experienced the quickest recovery from COVID-19, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on changes in unemployment claims for several key benchmark weeks.

To view WalletHub's full report, click here.