It’s clear to all of us locally that Central Florida is getting hit hard beyond just health concerns due to the coronavirus pandemic – and who knows when tourism will rebound. The U.S. unemployment rate is still on an upward trend, with more than 30 million Americans now having lost their jobs since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The numbers confirm our local fears, Florida has had the biggest increase in unemployement due to coronavirus, according to updated rankings by WalletHub (the original report was released before Disney furloughs). Florida has seen a 4,521.47% increase in unemployment claims since the pandemic started.
As states begin to reopen, Florida’s immediate future is still unknown because of our reliance on tourism and visitors from around the world. Local leaders have failed to increase local wages and have failed in wasting local budgets on wrong priorities, all while exploiting gains from the tourist tax over recent years instead of strengthening a fragile Orlando economy. No one is even talking about what Orlando will do after the coronavirus threat fades from the 24/7 focus of leaders.
To identify which states’ workforces have been hurt most by COVID-19, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on increases in unemployment claims. WalletHub used this data to rank the most impacted states in both the latest week for which we have data (April 20) and overall since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis (March 16). Here are some of the key takeaways from the data:
Increase in Florida Unemployment Due to Coronavirus:
- 7,229.92% Increase in Unemployment Claims (April 2020 vs April 2019)
- 432,465 the week of April 20, 2020 vs 5,900 the week of April 22, 2019
- The highest increase in the U.S.
- 9,264.77% Increase in the Number of Unemployment Claims (April 2020 vs January 2020)
- 432,465 the week of April 20, 2020 vs 4,618 the week of January 1, 2020
- The highest increase in the U.S.
- 4,521.47% Increase in Unemployment Claims Since Pandemic Started
- 1,592,236 between the week of March 16, 2020 and the week of April 20, 2020 vs 35,215 between the week of March 18, 2019 and the week of April 22, 2019
- 5th highest increase in the U.S.
You can find all the WalletHub data and the updated rankings released in the States with the Biggest Increases in Unemployment Due to the Coronavirus as a follow-up to their original report on the Cities with the Biggest Growth in Unemployment Due to COVID-19.
