Unemployment in 3 states topped 20% in April, led by Nevada and Michigan
Nevada had the highest unemployment rate among the 50 states in April, with nearly one in three people in the civilian labor force out of work, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
As states imposed stay-at-home orders and required many businesses to close in their efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic, pushing millions out of work, unemployment rates in 43 states set new records, based on records going back to 1976. In Nevada, where unemployment hit 28.2%, and Hawaii, where it reached 22.3%, the jobless rate exceeded previous highs by more than 10 percentage points.
The only other state where unemployment topped 20% was Michigan, at 22.7%. Auto plants there have begun to reopen but are hampered by parts shortages.
The state with the lowest unemployment rate was in Connecticut, at 7.9%. Unemployment in seven other states was below 10%.
All numbers are seasonally adjusted.
The U.S. unemployment rate in April soared to 14.7%, a post-world War II high, as 20.5 million jobs disappeared. The jobless rate had stood at a 50-year low of just 3.5% two months earlier.
