JACKSON, Wyo. — According to WalletHub, Wyoming has ranked 44th in states with unemployment claims while other states continue to experience increasing numbers of job loss.
Since the week of March 16, which marks the beginning of the economic fall-out in the U.S due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 73.8 million jobs have been lost. For perspective, a total of 8.8 million jobs were lost during the great recession in 2007 through 2009. Since 2010, 22.7 jobs have been created. Coronavirus has wiped out all of the jobs gained since the great recession.
The COVID-19 pandemic has now been a strain on the U.S. for nearly a year, and new unemployment claims increased week-over-week on Jan. 4, up 23% from the previous week.
Kansas, New Mexico, Florida, and Louisiana are among the states experiencing significant increases in unemployment claims due to COVID-19. Meanwhile, Wyoming has shown only a small increase this past week.
With the arrival of a vaccine to most U.S. states, unemployment rates are expected to decrease in the coming months, but at a much slower rate than usual.
“Since vaccine rollout is slower than expected, that could slow the reduction in the unemployment rate this year. Without having most of the population vaccinated, we can’t achieve a full recovery, which means businesses will continue to not be able to hire in full force,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst.
The correlation between vaccine rollout and decreasing unemployment claims is likely.
“If we can put more resources into achieving widespread vaccination, we can expect to make bigger strides in reducing unemployment. We should be concerned with educating people on the benefits of getting vaccinated, too, so that a higher percentage of the population will choose to receive the vaccine” Gonzalez continued.
