With unemployment in the U.S. on the rise, some states are doing worse than others when it comes to employment trends, according to a new survey from WalletHub.
Michigan, Illinois, Texas, California were on the list of top 10 states with the “worst” changes in unemployment, per the financial site. In another eight states, employment hasn’t budged much.
Connecticut, Indiana, Nevada, Kansas, Florida, Rhode Island, Louisiana and South Carolina all had very little change in unemployment last month compared to February. Rhode Island and South Carolina also had very little change year-over-year, according to the WalletHub data.
Nationwide, only 236,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were gained in March, down from 326,000 in February and unemployment is at 3.5%, down from a historic high of 14.7% in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“However, inflation and the potential of a recession threaten to push the unemployment rate higher again if Federal Reserve rate increases are not able to stave them off,” said WalletHub.
According to the World Economic Forum, the Federal Reserve Bank is expected to raise interest rates again next month, when President Joe Biden is also expected to officially end the pandemic emergency declaration. Interest rate hikes make it more expensive to borrow money and are intended to cool the economy, and Barron’s noted that, while unemployment is up, it has probably not increased enough to prevent a rate hike.
As the possibility of another rate hike looms, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia “based on six key metrics” that include: change in unemployment in March versus February, change in unemployment this March compared to last March, change in unemployment this March compared to March 2020 and March 2019, and finally, not seasonally adjusted claims in March versus February.
Here’s that list:
1. Nevada
2. District of Columbia
3. Oregon
4. Washington
5. California
6. Delaware
7. Texas
8. Hawaii
9. Illinois
10. Michigan
Although the March jobs report was “solid,” according to Reuters, during the week ending April 15 the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 245,000. That’s an increase of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised level, according to a Friday news release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“The present moment is a historically good time to switch jobs or even careers,” said Alan Benson, an associate professor at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, according to WalletHub. “The labor market is generally strong and its needs are rapidly evolving. Economic forecasters are anticipating that unemployment will need to rise precipitously in the coming months and years in order to curb inflation, so for those considering a switch, I would suggest they strike while the iron is hot.”
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