September’s jobs report showed a slowing of job growth. The economy gained 194,000 nonfarm payroll jobs, compared to 235,000 the previous month. In September, there were notable gains in sectors including leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, retail trade, and transportation and warehousing.
Now, the U.S. unemployment rate sits at 4.8%, which is still higher than it was before the pandemic but is much lower than the nearly historic high of 14.8% in April 2020. This overall drop can be attributed largely to a combination of vaccinations and states loosening restrictions. It will take far more time for us to reduce the unemployment rate to pre-pandemic levels than it did for the virus to reverse over a decade of job growth, though.
In order to identify the states whose unemployment rates are bouncing back most, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on five key metrics that compare unemployment rate statistics from the latest month for which data is available (September 2021) to key dates in 2019 and 2020.
Highlights from the report:
Unemployment Recovery in Alabama (1=Most Recovered, 25=Avg.):
- 9.16% Change in Unemployment (September 2021 vs September 2019)
- 68,544 unemployed people in September 2021 vs 62,792 in September 2019;
- 13th best recovery in the U.S.
- 15.38% Change in Unemployment (September 2021 vs January 2020)
- 68,544 unemployed people in September 2021 vs 59,405 in January 2020;
- 19th best recovery in the U.S.
- -53.48% Change in Unemployment (September 2021 vs September 2020)
- 68,544 unemployed people in September 2021 vs 147,334 in September 2020;
- The best recovery in the U.S.
- -53.01% Change in Not Seasonally Adjusted Continued Claims (September 2021 vs September 2019)
- 7,077 continued claims in September 2021 vs 15,060 in September 2019;
- The best recovery in the U.S.
- 3.1% Unemployment Rate (September 2021)
- 8th lowest unemployment rate in the U.S.
To view the full report and your state’s rank, please visit: https://wallethub.com/edu/
Media Release/Diana Polk/WalletHub
