(The Center Square) – Iowa’s recovery from the massive unemployment endured during the COVID-19 pandemic is in the top-10 of the pack nationally, last week’s employment numbers indicate.
That assessment is according to a recently released WalletHub report, which ranked the state 10th nationwide for progress made between the previous week and the week of June 21, 2021, and 21st nationwide for the quickest unemployment recovery since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.
On average, unemployment claims recovery in those states designated Red – based on how the majority of residents voted in the 2020 presidential election – fared better the so-called Blue states. On average, Red states ranked at 21.92 quickest, and Blue states ranked 29.92 quickest.
The report compared the number of initial unemployment claims for the week ending June 24, 2019 and the week ending June 21, 2021, and noted a 4.9% change. WalletHub also noted a 55.97 percent drop in Iowa’s initial unemployment claims since the beginning of 2021 and a whopping 73.89 percent decline in the state’s initial unemployment claims between June 2020 and June 2021.
WalletHub released another study ranking Des Moines and Cedar Rapids at 69 and 83, respectively, among U.S. cities bouncing back from massive unemployment. According to data from May 2021, unemployment in Des Moines was 5.2 percent and 5.4 percent in Cedar Rapids.
The top five states with unemployment claims recovering most quickly are, in order: South Carolina, Kansas, Vermont, Arkansas, and Michigan. Those states slowest to recover from unemployment caused by the pandemic are, in order: New Mexico, Rhode Island, District of Columbia, Virginia, and Oklahoma.
The national unemployment rate rose to 14.8 percent at the height of the pandemic but has since dropped to its current level of 5.8 percent.
