The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each US state as of April 2020, the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. The unemployment rate has skyrocketed in every single state leaving only Connecticut with an unemployment rate below eight percent.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the lowest unemployment rate, Connecticut, and the state with the highest, Nevada, is 20.30 percentage points (up from 4.90 last month and up from 3.80 last year). North Dakota had the lowest rate last month while North Dakota and Vermont had the lowest rate last year. Nevada had the highest rate last month while Alaska had the highest rate last year.
- Nevada has 3.57 times the unemployment rate that Connecticut does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was up from 3.45 last month and up from 2.65 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 12.90 (up from 3.85 last month and up from 3.50 last year) and the mean 13.49 (up from 4.11 the previous month and up from 3.62 last year).
- Zero states did not see a change in their unemployment rate from the previous month, zero saw an improvement, and 50 saw their rate increase.
- Zero states did not see a change in their unemployment rate from last year, while zero saw an improvement over the prior year's rate, and 50 saw their unemployment rate increase over the year.
Caveats
- Data is from April 2020.
- Data may conflict with previous month's report as statistical agencies make updates to the rates over the course of the month.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Details
In absolute terms, Nebraska had the smallest deterioration over the previous month increasing 4.3 percentage points. Nevada had the greatest deterioration with an increase of 21.3 percentage points in the unemployment rate. Year over year, Connecticut had the smallest deterioration with a 4.2 percentage point increase while Nevada had the greatest deterioration with a 24.2 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, New Mexico had the smallest deterioration over the previous month with a 79.37% rise in its rate while Hawaii had the biggest deterioration with an 829.17% rise in its rate. Year over year, Alaska had the smallest deterioration with a 111.48% rise in its rate while Hawaii had the greatest deterioration with a 725.93% rise in its rate.
Zero states have an unemployment rate below four percent (down from 26 last month, down from 33 last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. One has a rate between four and eight percent (down from 24 last month, down from 17 last year), and 49 have a rate above eight percent (up from 0 last month, up from 0 last year).
New Mexico (from 48th lowest unemployment rate to 15th lowest) bested 33 states between last month and this. On the other hand, Hawaii (from 2nd to 48th) was bested by 46 states. Year-over-year, New Mexico (from 48th to 15th) surpassed 33 states. Conversely, Hawaii (from 4th to 48th) was surpassed by 44 states.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 3.2 | 3 | 12.9 |
| Alaska | 6.1 | 5.2 | 12.9 |
| Arizona | 4.8 | 6.1 | 12.6 |
| Arkansas | 3.5 | 5 | 10.2 |
| California | 4.2 | 5.5 | 15.5 |
| Colorado | 2.9 | 5.2 | 11.3 |
| Connecticut | 3.7 | 3.4 | 7.9 |
| Delaware | 3.6 | 5 | 14.3 |
| Florida | 3.3 | 4.4 | 12.9 |
| Georgia | 3.6 | 4.6 | 11.9 |
| Hawaii | 2.7 | 2.4 | 22.3 |
| Idaho | 2.9 | 2.5 | 11.5 |
| Illinois | 4.2 | 4.2 | 16.4 |
| Indiana | 3.4 | 3 | 16.9 |
| Iowa | 2.7 | 3.3 | 10.2 |
| Kansas | 3.2 | 2.8 | 11.2 |
| Kentucky | 4.3 | 5.2 | 15.4 |
| Louisiana | 4.5 | 6.7 | 14.5 |
| Maine | 3.1 | 3 | 10.6 |
| Maryland | 3.7 | 3.3 | 9.9 |
| Massachusetts | 3 | 2.8 | 15.1 |
| Michigan | 4.3 | 4.3 | 22.7 |
| Minnesota | 3.2 | 2.9 | 8.1 |
| Mississippi | 5.3 | 5.1 | 15.4 |
| Missouri | 3.2 | 3.9 | 9.7 |
| Montana | 3.5 | 3.6 | 11.3 |
| Nebraska | 3.1 | 4 | 8.3 |
| Nevada | 4 | 6.9 | 28.2 |
| New Hampshire | 2.5 | 2.4 | 16.3 |
| New Jersey | 3.4 | 3.7 | 15.3 |
| New Mexico | 5 | 6.3 | 11.3 |
| New York | 4 | 4.1 | 14.5 |
| North Carolina | 4.1 | 4.3 | 12.2 |
| North Dakota | 2.3 | 2 | 8.5 |
| Ohio | 4.1 | 5.8 | 16.8 |
| Oklahoma | 3.2 | 2.9 | 13.7 |
| Oregon | 4 | 3.5 | 14.2 |
| Pennsylvania | 4.1 | 5.8 | 15.1 |
| Rhode Island | 3.6 | 4.7 | 17 |
| South Carolina | 3.3 | 3.2 | 12.1 |
| South Dakota | 3.2 | 3.1 | 10.2 |
| Tennessee | 3.5 | 3.3 | 14.7 |
| Texas | 3.5 | 5.1 | 12.8 |
| Utah | 2.7 | 3.8 | 9.7 |
| Vermont | 2.3 | 3.1 | 15.6 |
| Virginia | 2.9 | 3.3 | 10.6 |
| Washington | 4.4 | 5.1 | 15.4 |
| West Virginia | 4.7 | 6 | 15.2 |
| Wisconsin | 3.3 | 3.1 | 14.1 |
| Wyoming | 3.5 | 3.8 | 9.2 |
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2020. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed June 8, 2020. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.