The personal finance website WalletHub has issued its ranking of states along with the District of Columbia that have made the best recovery from high unemployment during the Covid outbreak. It ranked New York third from the bottom, in 49th place.
WalletHub looked at key metrics: the change in each state”™s unemployment during August 2020 compared with August 2019 and January 2020; continued claims in August 2020 compared with August 2019; and the overall unemployment rate.
Nationwide, the unemployment rate was 8.4% at the end of August, a decline from a peak of 14.7% in April.
For New York state, WalletHub found that there had been a 204.95% change in unemployment from August 2019 to August 2020, with 1,200,119 New Yorkers unemployed in August 2020 compared with 393,551 in August 2019. The state”™s August 2020 unemployment rate was 12.6%, the third highest in the U.S.
At the top of WalletHub”™s list was Idaho, which had 3.8% unemployment in August. Connecticut, with 8.2% unemployment in August of this year ranked 32nd on WalletHub’s list. New Jersey, which had 10.9% unemployment in August, ranked 43rd on the list. At the bottom of the list was Hawaii, which reported 12.5% unemployment in August. That number was slightly lower than New York”™s but Hawaii had worse numbers in other areas that were used in determining the rankings.
Richard Pate, an associate professor at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield was asked by WalletHub whether he thought the federal government needed to step up and issue a second round of lump-sum payment checks to help the unemployed. He said that the government would need to identify those people who really need the money, rather than just giving out money to everyone.
“I am not so sure how to identify such a group,” Pate said. “If we cannot identify the group and just keep giving money out, we run a risk of further disincentivizing a return to ”˜normal”™ for the whole economy. In the end, the right people must get the extra money if it is to be issued. Harder than it sounds to do.”
Stephanie Luce, a professor with the City University of New York, said, “We are seeing record levels of unemployment and most indicators suggest we are in for a slow recovery, not a quick turnaround. The federal government needs to consider proposals for a $2,000 a month stimulus. Spain is experimenting with a basic universal income during the crisis.”
She expressed concern that the bulk of past federal stimulus money has gone to large corporations with little oversight.
“We know from past practice this money may likely go to stock buybacks and managerial bonuses,” Luce said. “Instead, stimulus money must go directly into the hands of people who will spend it on necessary survival.”
