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Florida among states with biggest increases in unemployment due to COVID-19

Jordan Kirkland

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With the U.S. economy slowing to a crawl and 22 million Americans finding themselves out of work since March 16, the COVID-19 virus continues to plague lives and livelihoods. Countless businesses have been forced to shut their doors in accordance with the resulting social distancing policies, with many businesses shutting down and laying off workers across the country.

While Americans have started to receive their government stimulus checks, those who are jobless continue to struggle. But not all states have experienced the same levels of unemployment due to the pandemic. Florida, especially, has been hit hard by a statewide lockdown, according to the latest report from WalletHub.

In the new study conducted by the personal-finance website, Florida ranked 11th for the States with the Biggest Increases in Unemployment Due to Coronavirus. The ranking comes as Florida jobless claims jump to 181,293 for the week of April 6.

To identify which states’ workforces have been hurt most by COVID-19, the website compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on increases in unemployment claims. They used this data to rank the most impacted states in both the latest week for which we have data (April 6) and overall since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis (March 16).

Here are some of the biggest categories that contributed to Florida’s ranking.

Increase in Florida Unemployment Due to Coronavirus (1=Worst, 25=Avg.):

For the full report, click HERE.