Texas Has The Nation's 10th Worst Unemployment Rate Recovery

AUSTIN, TX — Texas had the nation's tenth worst unemployment rate recover in September, according to a new report.

WalletHub on Tuesday released updated rankings for States Whose September Unemployment Rates Are Bouncing Back Most to illustrate which parts of the country have had the best recovery so far. The report comes on the heels of reports the U.S. gained 661,000 jobs in September with a national unemployment rate at 7.9 percent compared to the nearly historic high of 14.7 percent at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.

The WalletHub report examines unemployment rates on a monthly basis, complementing the weekly analysis in WalletHub’s report on the States Whose Weekly Unemployment Claims Are Recovering the Quickest.

In order to identify the states with the best recovery in unemployment, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on four key metrics. Researchers studied the change in each state’s unemployment during the latest month for which data were available compared to September 2019 and January 2020. Researchers also compared not seasonally adjusted continued claims in September 2020 to September 2019. Finally, the study's authors considered each state’s overall unemployment rate.

Graphic via WalletHub.

Below is how the Lone Star State stacked up, according to the WalletHub research.

Unemployment Recovery in Texas (1=Most Recovered, 25=Avg.):

• 143.89 percent change in unemployment (September 2020 vs September 2019)
  • 1,177,593 unemployed people in September 2020 vs 482,829 in September 2019;
  • 12th worst recovery in the U.S.
• 121.17 percent change in unemployment (September 2020 vs January 2020)
  • 1,177,593 unemployed people in September 2020 vs 532,434 in January 2020;
  • 8th worst recovery in the U.S.
• 725.28 percent change in not seasonally adjusted continued claims (September 2020 vs September 2019)
  • 953,168 continued claims in September 2020 vs 115,497 in September 2019
  • 22nd worst recovery in the U.S.
• 8.3 percent unemployment Rate (September 2020)
  • 10th highest unemployment rate in the U.S.

For more details, view the full WalletHub report.

Graphic via WalletHub.