With inflation remaining high and the U.S. gaining 263,000 jobs in September, 2022 (this is fewer than in the previous month), the finance company WalletHub has released updated rankings for its report titled ‘Changes in Unemployment Rate by State’. This is supported by data sets.
In order to take stock of how unemployment rates are changing throughout the U.S., WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on six key metrics that compare unemployment rate statistics from the latest month for which data is available (September 2022). These data were compared to data sets from data collated from key dates in 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019.
The states with the best change in unemployment were identified as:
- Minnesota
- North Dakota
- Vermont
- New Hampshire
- Missouri
- Florida
- Utah
- Virginia
- South Dakota
- Nebraska
In contrast, the states with the worst change in unemployment were found to be:
- West Virginia
- Oregon
- Ohio
- Kentucky
- Texas
- Delaware
- Nevada
- District of Columbia
- Alaska
- Illinois
Beyond these figures, there are some variances. One area for difference is with demographics. According to Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst in a statement to Digital Journal: “The unemployment rate does differ sharply among different demographics. The unemployment rate for white people is 3.1 percent, while it’s much higher, at 5.8 percent, for black people.”
Gonzalez adds: “The racial disparity is troubling, especially in the context of broader discussions of inequality that have taken place in the past year.”
With age ranges, Gonzalez finds: “The unemployment rate can fluctuate a lot by age, too; it’s only 2.1 percent for those ages 45 to 54, but 7 percent for people ages 20 to 24. It makes sense that people who have been in the workforce longer would have more job stability, but we should be concerned about the difficult conditions faced by young people.”
