Interactive Map: A State-By-State Look at Unemployment

New state unemployment data shows that the labor market is rapidly deteriorating across the nation. The economy has shed 1.3 million jobs over the past three months—the largest three-month loss in over three decades—and the unemployment rate has spiked to 6.7 percent. Many states are seeing high levels of job losses and close to double-digit unemployment rates, as shown in the map below.

Michigan has an unemployment rate of 9.6 percent while Rhode Island’s is 9.3 percent; California and South Carolina have unemployment rates of 8.4 percent. Twenty-seven states have an unemployment rate of at least 6 percent, and nine states have lost at least 2 percent of their total jobs since their employment level peaked during the recovery of the 2000s.

With high unemployment spreading nationwide, getting benefits to unemployed workers is becoming increasingly important for workers and their families, and it will also provide important economic stimulus to the economy overall. The four-week moving average number of people applying for unemployment benefits is 543,750—the highest since December 1982.

Over the past year, more than 3 million workers ran out of benefits before they found a new job. Congress extended the duration of unemployment benefits in June and then again in November. But they have yet to pass the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act, or UIMA, legislation that would increase the number of workers—especially low-wage workers—eligible for benefits. Most unemployed workers (60 percent over the past 12 months) do not currently receive any unemployment benefits. Extending benefits to more unemployed workers should be a key component of the economic recovery package.

For more information on the percentage of workers not getting benefits now, and on UIMA, see the Half in Ten report, “Helping the Jobless Helps Us All."