California is struggling to recover from new unemployment claims, with early September claims higher than at the start of 2020, according to WalletHub’s updated rankings for the States Whose Unemployment Claims Are Recovering the Quickest.

To view the full report and your California’s rank, visit: https://wallethub.com/edu/states-unemployment-claims/72730

Key Stats:

• Weekly unemployment claims in California increased by 101.30 percent compared to the same week in 2019. This was the 16th biggest increase in the U.S.

• Weekly unemployment claims in California increased by 68.68 percent compared to the start of 2020. This was the fifth biggest increase in the U.S.

• Weekly unemployment claims in California decreased by 74.55 percent compared to the same week last year. This was the 14th biggest decrease in the U.S.

WalletHub Q&A

With Analyst Jill Gonzalez

Q: How might the expiration of extra unemployment benefits impact unemployment?

A: The expiration of extra unemployment benefits should help to reduce unemployment. Some people were making more money while unemployed than they did when they were employed, but that will no longer be the case. Therefore, those people will have more of an incentive to seek out employment to make up for the drop in income. Currently, the U.S. has more job openings than unemployed people, so people brought back to the workforce by the expiration of the extra benefits will have many opportunities to get hired.

Do you expect the approval of the Pfizer vaccine by the FDA to have any impact on unemployment?

In the long term, the approval of the Pfizer vaccine by the FDA should help reduce unemployment because more workplaces will make the vaccine mandatory, which in turn will cause more people to get vaccinated. A higher vaccination rate leads to a faster economic recovery, which then leads to greater future hiring. In the short term, there might be a small increase in unemployment as some people who don’t want to get the vaccine quit their jobs or are fired.

How do red states and blue states compare when it comes to recovery?

With an average rank of 28 among the most recovered states, blue states had a worse recovery from unemployment claims last week than red states, which rank 24 on average. The lower the number of the ranking, the bigger the state’s recovery was.

How has unemployment in California recovered?

California’s unemployment claims have experienced the 19th slowest recovery in the U.S.