As claims decrease in border states, Kansas unemployment holds steady

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - While unemployment claims in Kansas’ border states continue to decrease, a recent report shows that the Sunflower State is holding steady.

As inflation remains high and 253,000 jobs were gained in April - notably more than in March - on Friday, May 19, personal finance website WalletHub.com published its updated Changes in Unemployment Rate by State report.

In order to see where unemployment continues to change the most, WalletHub said it compared all 50 states and Washington, D.C., based on data from the latest month available - April 2023 - to key dates in 2023, 2022, 2020 and 2019.

Kansas ranked 28th overall with a 2.9% unemployment rate for April 2023. That is 1.2% more claims than in March, and 23.2% more claims than in April 2022. However, that is still 76.1% fewer claims than in April 2020 and 9.1% fewer claims than in April 2019.

Nebraska had the largest change in unemployment as it ranked first with a 2% unemployment rate for April. That is 6.2 fewer claims than in March, 0.8% fewer claims than in April 2022, 75% fewer claims than in April 2020 and 34.1% fewer claims than in April 2019.

Missouri ranked 16th overall with a 2.5% unemployment rate for April. That is 0.6% more claims than in March and 12.8% more claims than in April 2022. However, that is still 76.7% fewer claims than in April 2020 and 18.5% fewer claims than in April 2019.

Colorado ranked 20th overall with an unemployment rate of 2.8% in April. That is 1.9% fewer claims than in March, 9.4% fewer claims than in April 2022 and 73.4% fewer claims than in April 2020. That also accounts for 9.4% more claims than in April 2019.

Lastly, Oklahoma was ranked 22nd overall with an unemployment rate of 2.9% for April. That is 4.3% fewer claims than in March, 75.9% fewer claims than in April 2020 and 3.1% fewer claims than in April 2019. That also accounts for 1.6% more claims than in April 2022.

WalletHub found that Missouri had the fifth-smallest decrease between April and March 2023 while Kansas had the second. Kansas also had the smallest decrease in unemployment between April 2023 and April 2022.

The report also found that Nebraska had the third largest decrease between April 2023 and April 2019 while it had the second lowest unemployment rate in the nation for April 2023.

The states where unemployment changed the most were:

1. Nebraska
2. New Hampshire
3. South Dakota
4. Wisconsin
5. Montana

The locations where unemployment changed the most were:

1. Nevada
2. Washington, D.C.
3. California
4. Texas
5. Delaware

For more information or to see where other states fall, click HERE.

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