Unemployment Rates by State - Low and High Unemployment Rate States

Recovery continues - 20 states have unemployment levels at 3% or less

On an ongoing basis, Janco analyzes the unemployment rates reported by the BLS. This is then included in the firm's analysis of the projected number of jobs that will be added or deleted from the IT profession. The National unemployment data provides a measure of the health of the overall labor market. A more granular metric is one that considers local conditions - i.e. state and local unemployment.

COVID-19 began its impact on the overall unemployment rate with jump up 0.9% to 4.4% and a loss of over 700,000 jobs at the start of the shutdowns. Then in April of that year the unemployment rate skyrocketed to 14.7% and to drop to 3.4% in April 2023.

Between California and New York alone, almost 3 million jobs were lost during the Covid shutdowns.

Current US unemployment rate. Read on...

Long Term Trend - IT Job Market versus state by state unemployment rate

Employment of IT professionals traditionally is tied to the national unemployment rates. In our research we have found that the number of IT jobs created or lost is tied to the number of states that are at full employment (3.0% or less) versus those with high unemployment rates (5.0% or higher). In December there was one state (Nevada 5.2%) that had a high unemployment rate.

High Unemployment States

The highest unemployment states are those that have an overall unemployment rate of 4.5% or higher. In April there was one state (Nevada 5.5%) that had a high unemployment rate.

The impact of Covid shutdowns can be seen in the comparison of the unemployment rates with the same month of the prior year during the shutdowns.

States with the Lowest Unemployment -- Full Employment States

State unemployment rates continue to improve. At the start of the shutdown, there were 15 states with unemployment rates of less than 3.0%. That is two (2) fewer states than in November.

In April there were 20 states at full employment levels - That is five (5) more than in February.

Latest data

All of the states that were at full employment levels before the Covid shutdowns have recovered from the massive erosion of the economy.