Saturday, February 28, 2026
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Saturday, February 28, 2026

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Wisconsin saw a more than 500% hike in jobless claims during COVID-19 era

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Using that metric, Wisconsin had the 42nd highest number of jobless claims among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the WalletHub analysis found. 

From mid-March of 2020 through the first full week of 2021, Wisconsin reported a spike in its weekly unemployment claims of 522.53%, compared to the same period a year earlier, according to a new analysis from the WalletHub website.

Nationally, 10.7 million Americans are jobless as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. During the week of Jan. 4, 965,000 new jobless claims were filed across the nation, which is 86% below the 6.9 million claims that were made at the height of the crisis, according to 24/7 Wall St.

Using another metric, however, the state ranked 31st highest based on a recent number of weekly unemployment claims. That metric combines comparisons of the jobless claims during the week of Jan. 4 of this year with the first week of 2019 and the first week of 2020, the study states


Coronavirus restrictions have hurt the job markets in states around the nation, the study said. Only two jurisdictions, Washington, D.C., and Kentucky, had jobless claims during the week of Jan. 4 that were under the claims filed during the first week of 2019, the researchers reported.

State Increased Most Using Most Recent Data Increased Most Since Start of COVID-19 Crisis Change in Jobless Claims (Week of Jan. 4, 2021, Compared to First Week of 2019) Change in Unemployment Claims (Week of Jan. 4, 2021, Compared to First Week of 2020) Change in Unemployment Claims (Since Start of COVID-19 Crisis vs. Same Period One Year Earlier)
Kansas 1 5 2996.12% 3220.01% 1261.64%
New Mexico 2 13 782.51% 1737.92% 952.67%
Florida 3 2 646.01% 1533.69% 1683.09%
Louisiana 4 4 686.90% 1124.49% 1400.65%
Illinois 5 30 669.58% 720.67% 710.11%
Virginia 6 6 550.52% 875.38% 1239.87%
Mississippi 7 11 522.35% 687.18% 1032.18%
Tennessee 8 14 463.85% 612.68% 874.13%
Colorado 9 12 418.26% 555.99% 972.23%
Arizona 10 37 304.12% 507.85% 605.65%
Maryland 11 21 311.70% 447.66% 788.25%
Rhode Island 12 35 356.94% 289.05% 642.93%
Nebraska 13 24 314.30% 369.34% 761.19%
Indiana 14 8 289.08% 324.27% 1141.82%
New Hampshire 14 3 279.58% 344.49% 1423.08%
California 16 33 239.27% 394.49% 671.78%
Nevada 17 18 243.90% 351.90% 812.25%
Delaware 18 34 234.30% 306.51% 656.15%
Texas 19 29 194.11% 387.35% 710.30%
Ohio 20 28 254.32% 234.85% 717.54%
Massachusetts 21 25 249.23% 228.78% 753.97%
North Carolina 22 9 196.75% 313.65% 1125.97%
Alabama 23 15 203.53% 178.57% 854.24%
Washington 24 22 203.47% 176.77% 773.16%
Alaska 25 31 131.30% 325.59% 699.46%
Hawaii 26 17 196.22% 179.18% 840.07%
Minnesota 27 26 202.19% 139.96% 751.68%
New York 28 32 234.50% 61.61% 683.87%
Georgia 29 1 178.94% 114.93% 1793.44%
Vermont 30 46 155.79% 153.53% 475.87%
Wisconsin 31 42 182.06% 75.31% 522.53%
Utah 32 39 120.66% 163.11% 582.41%
Oklahoma 33 7 131.10% 102.51% 1185.19%
Arkansas 34 41 118.26% 116.23% 566.73%
Maine 35 16 117.53% 114.13% 853.96%
Oregon 36 51 113.00% 88.61% 422.73%
North Dakota 37 40 70.81% 151.32% 577.25%
District of Columbia 38 20 -0.97% 304.37% 795.45%
South Dakota 39 23 65.15% 127.39% 771.56%
Montana 40 45 73.86% 99.36% 494.60%
Missouri 41 36 87.17% 52.44% 616.47%
Iowa 42 50 73.79% 66.55% 433.73%
Connecticut 43 49 83.96% 31.15% 444.16%
Wyoming 44 48 57.51% 83.69% 458.22%
Pennsylvania 45 44 71.46% 49.31% 495.20%
Idaho 46 38 71.69% 47.07% 598.71%
South Carolina 47 19 77.64% 15.58% 799.31%
Michigan 48 27 46.21% 78.34% 734.25%
West Virginia 49 43 21.89% 116.43% 514.65%
New Jersey 50 47 45.68% 34.67% 463.38%
Kentucky 51 10 -1.10% 116.79% 1123.23%

Source: WalletHub.com

States With Biggest Spikes in Jobless Claims

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