Report: Unemployment rates by state continued to fluctuate as 2024 began

The United States gained 216,000 jobs in December 2023, so WalletHub updated rankings in its report on unemployment by state.

In Changes in Unemployment Rate by State, the personal finance website compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on six key metrics that compare unemployment rate statistics from the latest month for which data is available (December 2023) to key dates in 2023, 2022, 2020 and 2019.

Maryland saw the best change in unemployment, followed by North Dakota, Vermont, South Dakota and Nebraska.

The worst changes in unemployment by state were in New Jersey, California, D.C., Illinois and Kentucky.

Virginia ranks No. 16 in the nation.

WalletHub Analyst Cassandra Happe said that the Federal Reserve Board predicts the unemployment rate will increase to 4.1 percent by the end of 2024.

“Along with that, many companies are planning for hiring freezes and layoffs in the coming year due to the rise in payroll costs and tightening job market. Despite these predictions, our latest economic index survey shows that consumer confidence in employment stability has increased by 7.1 percent compared to last year. This contrast puts consumers in a difficult situation as they look ahead to the coming year. While the increase in consumer confidence is a positive sign for the economy, overly optimistic expectations could leave Americans feeling disheartened if the Fed’s predictions turn out to be true in 2024.”

The emerging technology of artificial intelligence (AI) is impacting unemployment in good and bad ways.

“On one hand, AI is creating new jobs in fields such as data analysis, machine learning and programming. On the other hand, AI is also causing job displacement as many tasks that were once performed by humans are now being automated. Certain jobs in fields like journalism, higher education, graphic and software design are already at risk of AI replacement and could lead to higher unemployment sooner rather than later,” Happe said.

She added that the biggest increase in unemployment from the previous month was in Massachusetts where the number of unemployed jumped by 11.7 percent from November to December 2023, an increase of 2.4 percent.

“Massachusetts’s overall unemployment rate is 3.2 percent, compared to the average of 3.7 percent.”

The biggest decrease in unemployment from November 2023 was in Minnesota with a 5 percent decrease.

“Minnesota’s overall unemployment rate is 2.9 percent, compared to the average of 3.7 percent.”