It has now been nearly a year since the first COVID-19 case was identified in the U.S., and while vaccine distribution has begun, it will still be months before the general public can receive it. The pandemic is still raging across the U.S., and some states have temporarily paused their reopening processes or even closed down some of the businesses that previously reopened. Unfortunately, this slowdown of reopening has had a negative impact on the job market, and the U.S. experienced more new unemployment claims last week than the previous week. Some places didn't follow the national trend, though, with claims lower than in 2019, including Kentucky and the District of Columbia.

There are currently 10.7 million Americans unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in total. Last week, there were 965,000 new unemployment claims nationwide, compared to 6.9 million during the peak of the pandemic (an 86% reduction).

To identify which states’ workforces are experiencing the biggest increases in unemployment claims due to COVID-19, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three metrics. Read on for the results, additional commentary from a panel of experts and a full description of our methodology.

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