Cities in Florida post biggest growth in unemployment due to COVID-19

Though states like Florida are finally flattening the coronavirus curve, it’s hard to overstate just how disastrous the COVID-19 pandemic has been for jobs and businesses across the country. In total, the country has lost over 26 million jobs, wiping out years of gains since the last big economic crisis, the Great Recession — a number that equates to 13% of the adult workforce.

Many of the jobs lost have been the consequences of stay-at-home orders, which have shut down nonessential businesses, such as tourism, entertainment and dining, but even businesses that remain open have been hit hard by the shock to the economy and have laid off employees, according to a new report from WalletHub.

While some cities’ jobs have weathered the storm, others have suffered from the economic fallout — especially those in the Sunshine State.

In order to identify where workers have been most affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the personal-finance website compared 180 cities based on how their unemployment rate has changed over time. They also compared unemployment during the latest month for which we have data (March 2020) to March 2019 and January 2020 in order to see the difference from the beginning of the year and from last year.

Below, you can see highlights from the report, which includes five cities from the state of Florida.

As you can see from the rankings, Florida’s economy was hit the hardest by the disease, with four out of the five on the list coming from South Florida. The area of the state has been hardest by the virus, with much of the confirmed cases coming from cities like Miami (7,364) and Hialeah (1,439).

For the full report, click HERE.