Texas 15th State Unemployment Most Affected By Pandemic Last Week

The United States will likely have more than 27 million people unemployed due to coronavirus by the end of today, April 23rd. WalletHub, a personal-finance website, released findings this morning which revealed that Texas ranked 15th on a list of states, including the District of Columbia, with the biggest increase in unemployment due to coronavirus.

The ability to rebound from such enormous job losses will depend largely on how well safety measures are implemented and precautionary measures observed by individuals.

Each state is experiencing different rates of unemployment along with varying degrees of issues related to the coronavirus pandemic. Once the social distancing restrictions begin to ease in each state the decrease in unemployment rates will be different state by state much like the rise of unemployment has been different in each state.

WalletHub also included with the report, a list of questions that are likely on the minds of many Texans:

How will the unemployment rate change once the COVID-19 pandemic ends?

“Until we have a vaccine for COVID-19, we will not see employment levels similar to the beginning of the year. Once businesses start to open, we will see the unemployment rate stabilize and then slowly start decreasing. The economic stress put on businesses by the coronavirus crisis may prevent them from having the resources to do much hiring at the start,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst. “Some industries’ hiring will bounce back sooner than others; for example, restaurants that are reopening will need to hire serving staff again after laying off or furloughing them during the switch to takeout-only meals.”

How do red states and blue states compare when it comes to increases in unemployment?

“With an average rank of 22 among the most affected states, red states suffered a higher increase in unemployment during the coronavirus outbreak than blue states, which rank 32 on average,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst. “The lower the number, the higher the increase in initial unemployment claims that state received during the coronavirus pandemic.”

The state with the current largest number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is New York. How has New York’s unemployment rate been affected?

“New York has seen a 357% increase in initial unemployment claims from the beginning of 2020 to the week of April 13,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst. “This is better than the average increase of 1,544%.”

What can states do in order to minimize the rise in their unemployment rates?

“States should aggressively focus on helping the companies in the most need. The federal response will include sending checks to most citizens, even those whose income has not been affected by the coronavirus. States can use a more targeted approach to divert resources to the companies affected the most, thus having maximum impact for the money spent,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst.

For a complete breakdown of the ranking by state for changes in unemployment and methodology used click here.