COVID Comeback: Louisiana Economy Makes a Big Move, But Which Way?

New unemployment claims decreased week-over-week on May 24, and those were 94% below the peak during the COVID-19 pandemic. And to help add some context to these numbers, personal finance website, WalletHub, just released updated rankings for the States Whose Unemployment Claims are Recovering the Quickest.

Despite last week's disappointing job creation numbers and plenty of circumstantial evidence that government's continued generous unemployment benefits are keeping workers at home, stats indicate that compared to a year ago, things are looking up.

• There were 385,000 new unemployment claims nationwide, which is a lot fewer than the 6.1 million during the peak of the pandemic (a 94% reduction).
• The following states had unemployment claims last week that were lower than before the pandemic: Wyoming, Arkansas, Vermont and Arizona.
• Surprisingly, two states (Rhode Island and Delaware) had unemployment claims last week that were worse than the same week last year

But here in Louisiana, it would seem the recent good news might be short lived. While the WalletHub data shows that the state is ranked 15th in economic recovery since the start of the COVID crisis, we suffered a precipitous fall over the last seven days, dropping all the way to 41st compared to other states.

States Recovered the Most in the Last Week:

1) South Carolina

2) Wyoming

3) Vermont

4) South Dakota

5) Arkansas

States Recovered the Most the Start of the COVID Crisis:

1) New Hampshire

2) South Dakota

3) South Carolina

4) Florida

5) North Dakota

To see the complete WalletHub report and Louisiana numbers, in particular, JUST CLICK HERE!