Colorado Tops List for Biggest Unemployment Increase During COVID-19
With the U.S. losing over 22 million jobs since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, WalletHub has released updated rankings for the States with the Biggest Increases in Unemployment Due to Coronavirus.
To identify which states’ workforces have been hurt most by COVID-19, WalletHub examined the amount of unemployment claims filed in each state, as well as the District of Columbia. This update includes their latest comparisons from the week of April 6 and their overall summation since the pandemic started deeply impacting America on March 16.
Increase in Colorado Unemployment Due to Coronavirus (1=Greatest Increase, 25=Avg. Increase):
According to WalletHub, Colorado has experienced the greatest increase in unemployment over the past week, though we are only the 20th most-impacted state since the overall crisis began. That dubious honor goes to New Hampshire, whose unemployment claims have gone up by 6429.42% this April since the start of the crisis.
Still, here's how our results break down. We've experienced:
- A 5,058.22% increase in unemployment claims since April of 2019
- According to WestWord, that means 105,073 claims were filed the week of April 6, 2020, while only 2,037 were filed the week of April 8, 2019.
- That puts us at the 4th highest increase in unemployment claims in the U.S. since 2019.
- A 4,222.21% increase in the number of unemployment claims since 2020 began
- This gives us the 2nd highest increase in the U.S. this year, while Louisiana holds the spot at number 1.
- A 3,341.62% increase in unemployment claims since the pandemic started
- According to CPR, that increase means there's been about 80,558, unemployment claims since March 14.
- This, in turn, has us experiencing the 20th highest increase in unemployment in the U.S. since the COVID-19 economic crisis began.
Essentially, this makes the storm we're currently weathering at least twice as difficult as those we experienced during the Great Recession.
However, as bleak as these numbers seem, and we know they're deeply concerning, we will find our way through. Look out for each other, and help where you can.