Nearly 30% of Hawaii's workforce filed jobless claims. Here's a state-by-state breakdown of unemployment woes
No state has been left untouched by the jobless crisis, but some have been hit much harder than others. A CBS MoneyWatch analysis of the number of people in each state who've applied for jobless benefits since mid-March reveals some stark discrepancies.
The hardest-hit state, based on the latest available data for local jobless claims and employment, is Hawaii, where more than 29% of the workforce – or nearly 200,000 people – have applied for unemployment benefits since mid-March. The figure underscores how hard the state's tourism-dependent economy has been hit amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The numbers are similarly grim in Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island: 1 in 4 workers in each of those states have applied for jobless aid.
In the best-case scenario, South Dakota has seen 7.3% of its workforce, or 33,000 people, apply for jobless benefits over the past six weeks. While that's on the low end compared to other states, it's still a record for South Dakota. The state would normally see about 1,100 new jobless applications during a six-week period in the spring.
Here's a state-by-state look at applications for unemployment benefits, according to an analysis of data from the Economic Policy Institute and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.