Ky. unemployment cases drastically lower than pre-COVID

LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) – Economies in the U.S. are showing signs of recovery as we approach the end of the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to WalletHub, there were 184,000 new unemployment claims worldwide. This is a staggering 97% reduction from the 6.1 million new worldwide claims reported during the pandemic’s peak.

The WalletHub report also showed every state reported reduced unemployment claims week-over-week on Nov. 29 as well as compared to the same week last year.

As for which states are recovering the fastest, WalletHub compared changes in unemployment claims to the number of claims for “key benchmark weeks”.

Currently, Kentucky ranks in the top three in terms of quickest recovery versus last week. The top five states were:

1. Georgia
2. Nebraska
3. Kentucky
4. Kansas
5. South Carolina

Putting Kentucky’s recovery into context:

• Weekly unemployment claims in Kentucky decreased by 55.69% compared to this same week in 2019, the 3rd largest decrease in the U.S.
• Weekly unemployment claims in Kentucky decreased by 69.24% compared to the start of 2020, also the 3rd largest decrease in the U.S.
• Weekly unemployment claims in Kentucky decreased by 80.51% compared to this same week in 2020, the 8th largest decrease in the U.S.

The report goes on to show that, overall, Kentucky has experienced the 15th best recovery since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.