REPORT: Pa. unemployment claims recovering quickly compared to other states | The Numbers Racket

Pennsylvania has seen the second quickest recovery of unemployment claims from last week to last year and the sixth quickest recovery of unemployment claims since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report by WalletHub. 

The personal finance website used data collected from the U.S. Department of Labor to create the report and subsequent ranking.

The top five states with the highest recovery from last week to last year were (the smaller the number, the higher the unemployment claims recovery in that state): 

• Oregon; 55.44 percent change in unemployment claims

• Pennsylvania; 115.73 percent

• Illinois; 117.18 percent

• West Virginia; 126.59 percent 
• Connecticut; 145.29 percent

The bottom five states with the lowest recovery from last week to last year were: 

• Florida; 596.69 percent

• Kansas; 624.93 percent

• Louisiana; 676.98 percent

• Kentucky; 779.21 percent
• Georgia; 952.70 percent

According to the report, Blue (Democratic-leaning) states are recovering slightly quicker (24.24%) than their red counterparts (27.23%)

This data does not mean that Pennsylvania and its 6.4 million workers have fully recovered from the far-reaching effects of COVID-19. 

The report notes that 16.3 million Americans are still unemployed due to the pandemic, despite the 87 percent reduction in unemployment claims from last week compared to the height of the pandemic. 

815.65 … the percentage of change in unemployment claims since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic vs. last year

In July, Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was still at 13.7 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics data.