The June jobs report brought good news for American workers, as it showed that the U.S. added 4.8 million nonfarm payroll jobs during the month, exceeding expert projections. This demonstrates that the process of reopening states has had a positive impact, and many workers who were temporarily laid off while their employers remained closed are now being rehired. However, some states are temporarily pausing their reopening processes due to COVID-19 spikes, which is necessary but may slow down job growth in the near future. There are still 17.8 million Americans unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in total. Last week, there were 1.3 million new unemployment claims nationwide, compared to 6.9 million during the peak of the pandemic (an 81% reduction).

To identify which states’ workforces are experiencing the quickest recovery from COVID-19, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three metrics based on changes in unemployment claims. Read on for the results, additional commentary from a panel of experts and a full description of our methodology.

Change in Texas Unemployment Claims (1=Quickest Recovery, 25=Avg.):
• 554.05% Change in Unemployment Claims (Latest Week vs Last Year)
o 105,590 the week of July 6, 2020 vs 16,144 the week of July 8, 2019
o 18th slowest recovery in the U.S.

• 753.80% Change in Unemployment Claims (Latest Week vs Start of 2020)
o 105,590 the week of July 6, 2020 vs 12,367 the week of January 1, 2020
o 7th slowest recovery in the U.S.

• 1,262.24% Change in Unemployment Claims (Since Start of COVID-19 Crisis vs Last Year)
o 2,903,055 between the week of March 16, 2020 and the week of July 6, 2020 vs 229,993 between the week of March 18, 2019 and the week of July 8, 2019
o 23rd quickest recovery in the U.S.
To view the full report and your state’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-unemployment-claims/72730/.