(And So Do The Worst Ones!) The economy continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing government restrictions. But newly released Labor Department data show that the recovery isn’t equal across all 50 states and Washington, DC. Some parts of the US have almost or entirely returned to pre-pandemic unemployment rates—while others remain strangled in stagnation.
Here are the 10 states with the lowest unemployment rates as of July 2021...
Here are the 10 states with the lowest unemployment rates as of July 2021.
Nebraska: 2.3 percent
Utah: 2.6 percent
New Hampshire: 2.9 percent
South Dakota: 2.9 percent
Idaho: 3.0 percent
Vermont: 3.0 percent
Alabama: 3.2 percent
Oklahoma: 3.5 percent
Montana: 3.6 percent
Georgia: 3.7 percent
In stark contrast, here are the 10 worst states (counting Washington, DC) with the highest unemployment rates.
Arizona: 6.6 percent
Louisiana*: 6.6 percent
Pennsylvania: 6.6 percent
Washington, DC: 6.7 percent
Illinois: 7.1 percent
Hawaii: 7.3 percent
New Jersey: 7.3 percent
California: 7.6 percent
New Mexico: 7.6 percent
New York: 7.6 percent
Nevada: 7.7 percent
With the exception of Arizona, these states struggling with high unemployment all have Democratic governors (or mayor, in the case of DC). Generally speaking, they had longer and harsher government restrictions on their economies than the top 10 states. And, except for Arizona, all of these bottom-ranking states continued to offer residents expanded payouts to stay on unemployment benefits. (*Louisiana ended the benefits on August 3, but the unemployment rates are for July 2021, before this change took effect).