NJ Remains Among States With Fastest Unemployment Recovery

NEW JERSEY — The COVID-19 pandemic has significant effects on unemployment regardless of states or industry. Unemployment rates peaked at unheard-of rates not seen since 1948 in April 2020.

The U.S. is making progress in the fight against the virus with the distribution of the vaccine, and this has been reflected in the job market, with new unemployment claims decreasing week-over-week on March 15.

Things are getting better, and New Jersey has been at the forefront when it comes to job recovery, according to WalletHub.

The website recently released updated rankings for the States Whose Unemployment Claims Are Recovering the Quickest, and New Jersey claims the No. 2 spot for the state that most recovered last week. It was behind only Alaska.

New Jersey’s weekly unemployment claims increased by 25.64 percent compared to the same week in 2019. This was the second smallest increase in the U.S., according to the report.

The state’s weekly unemployment claims decreased by 38.64 percent compared to the start of 2020. This was the second biggest decrease in the country.

New Jersey’s weekly unemployment claims decreased by 91.88 percent compared to the same week last year. This was the sixth biggest decrease in America.

New Hampshire has recovered the most since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the report. Pennsylvania is second, followed by North Carolina in third, Maine in fourth and Minnesota in fifth.

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.

Metrics included Change in Unemployment Claims (Latest Week vs. 2019), Change in Unemployment Claims (Latest Week vs. Start of 2020) and Change in Unemployment Claims (Since Start of COVID-19 Crisis vs. Previous Year).

As of February 2021, New Jersey maintains a 7.6 percent unemployment rate (greater than the national average of 6.2 percent).

In February 2020, those numbers were 3.8 percent for New Jersey and 3.5 nationwide, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.