Kansas unemployment among states bouncing back most from COVID-19 pandemic

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - A new report shows Kansas has continued its unemployment recovery momentum and is again in the top 10 states recovering the most from the COVID-19 pandemic.

With about 428,000 jobs gained in the U.S. in April - the same as the previous month - WalletHub.com says it released its updated rankings for States Whose Unemployment Rates Are Bouncing Back Most, and Kansas ranked seventh.

In order to find which states’ unemployment rates are bouncing back the most, WalletHub said it compared all 50 states and Washington, D.C., based on six metrics that compare unemployment rate statistics from the latest month data is available - April 2022 - to key dates in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Source: WalletHub

The report shows Kansas had a 2.4% unemployment rate in April 2022, which is a -23.7% change from April 2019, a -24.1% change from January 2020, a -80.5% change from April 2020 and a -31.5% change from April 2021.

Kansas’ border states to the north and south seem to be bouncing back just as well. Nebraska ranked second overall with a 1.9% unemployment rate, which is a -33.7% change from April 2019, a -35.7% change from January 2020, a -76.1% change from April 2020 and a -24.6% change from April 2021. Oklahoma ranked 10th with a 2.7% unemployment rate, which is a -8.6% change from April 2019, a -11.2% change from January 2020, a -77.6% change from April 2020 and a -39.7% change from April 2021.

However, the Sunflower State’s neighbors to the east and west have not faired so well. Missouri ranked 26th with a 3.4% unemployment rate which is a change of 13% from April 2019, 3.1% from January 2020, -68.4% from April 2020 and -28.1% from April 2021. Colorado ranked 35th overall with an unemployment rate of 3.6% which is a change of 45% from April 2019, 38.8% from January 2020, -66.8% from April 2020 and -38.8% from April 2021.

WalletHub said the states recovering most are as follows: