NJ Ranks Among States With Fastest Unemployment Recovery

NEW JERSEY - The U.S. is making significant strides in the fight against COVID-19 and its economic impact, but it will likely still take months before everyone who wants the vaccine will be able to receive it - and even longer for the nation to see economic prospects turn around.

With 6.9 million unemployment claims filed in one week during the peak of the pandemic but only 712,000 new unemployment claims nationwide last week (a 90 percent reduction) it’s easy to see that the devastating economic consequences of the virus is slowing down. Luckily, New Jerseyans are experiencing some of the best unemployment recovery in the nation, according to a new study from personal finance blog WalletHub.

The website recently released updated rankings for the States Whose Unemployment Claims Are Recovering the Quickest, and New Jersey claims the No. 1 spot for the state that most recovered last week.

But while New Jersey ranks first for recent recovery, Oregon takes the cake for the state that’s recovered the most since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the study. Following the Beaver State is Iowa in second, Wyoming in third and New Jersey in fourth place.

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).

Here’s how the Garden State fares in each category:

Recovered Most Since Last Week: 1

Recovered Most Since Start of COVID-19 Crisis: 4

Change in Unemployment Claims (Latest Week vs. 2019): 9.02 percent

Change in Unemployment Claims (Latest Week vs. Start of 2020): -43.16 percent

Change in Unemployment Claims (Since Start of COVID-19 Crisis vs. Previous Year): 417.81 percent

As of January 2021, New Jersey maintains a 7.9 percent unemployment rate (greater than the national average of 6.3 percent). In January 2020, those numbers were 3.8 percent for New Jersey and 3.5 nationwide, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

You can view the full analysis here.