STATE UNEMPLOYMENT | April 2020, ranked

June 5, 2020—We are in uncharted territory, so it's worth looking at every piece of data that can help us understand what is happening. The markets were happily shocked by the drop to a 13.3 percent unemployment rate this morning, although if the status of some misclassified workers were corrected the percentage unemployed would rise to 16.3 percent. But at 13.3 percent the U-6 rate was above 20 percent, and some of the people who would have been among the May U-3 unemployed were located for the time being among the U-6 unemployed.

What are the major shocks that the United States is suffering through? Here are three:

• The coronavirus, which is poorly understood,
• The economy, which was been largely shut down by the Covid-19 virus, and 
• The relationship of governments at the federal, state, city and town level to the public that they serve, when nerves on both sides are frayed.

The following rank of unemployment rates by state may help separate out the different strands of distress. Minnesota's April unemployment rate, for example, ranks second-lowest among all the states (DC is included here as a state). Its economic stress should be relatively low. It is therefore surprising that this is where George Floyd was murdered.

One sorting factor among the states is relative density. Connecticut and Minnesota have a relatively low density. Another factor is the importance of tourism and travel. Nevada and Hawaii are greatly affected by the loss of tourism and air travel. Michigan is affected by the stay-at-home guidelines.

New York is an interesting case. Because New York City is a tourist and immigration destination, it was the first to be affected in a major way by the coronavirus. It is densely populated downstate and relatively sparsely populated upstate. 

State	April 2020(P) rate	Rank		State	April 2020(P) rate	Rank
Connecticut	7.9	1		Florida	12.9	25
Minnesota	8.1	2		Oklahoma	13.7	28
Nebraska	8.3	3		Wisconsin	14.1	29
North Dakota	8.5	4		Oregon	14.2	30
Wyoming	9.2	5		Delaware	14.3	31
Missouri	9.7	6		Louisiana	14.5	32
Utah	9.7	6		New York	14.5	32
Maryland	9.9	8		Tennessee	14.7	34
Arkansas	10.2	9		Massachusetts	15.1	35
Iowa	10.2	9		Pennsylvania	15.1	35
South Dakota	10.2	9		West Virginia	15.2	37
Maine	10.6	12		New Jersey	15.3	38
Virginia	10.6	12		Kentucky	15.4	39
District of Columbia	11.1	14		Mississippi	15.4	39
Kansas	11.2	15		Washington	15.4	39
Colorado	11.3	16		California	15.5	42
Montana	11.3	16		Vermont	15.6	43
New Mexico	11.3	16		New Hampshire	16.3	44
Idaho	11.5	19		Illinois	16.4	45
Georgia	11.9	20		Ohio	16.8	46
South Carolina	12.1	21		Indiana	16.9	47
North Carolina	12.2	22		Rhode Island	17.0	48
Arizona	12.6	23		Hawaii	22.3	49
Texas	12.8	24		Michigan	22.7	50
Alabama	12.9	25		Nevada	28.2	51
Alaska	12.9	25
(p) Preliminary
Note: Rates shown are a percentage of the labor force. Data refer to place of residence. Estimates for the current month are subject to revision the following month. Source: https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm