For those of you who are regular Sunday Brief readers, I know that a mid-week post is rare. Because of the deluge of earnings news, there’s not enough time to treat a large topic like an economic recovery with a couple hundred words. So we are including the latest state-by-state unemployment rate analysis as reference. Here’s what’s in the PDF (Excel spreadsheet also available upon request):

• State,
• Region
• Unemployment rate as of Dec 2020
• Peak rate and month of unemployment in 2020 (usually April)
• Lowest unemployment rate for 2020 (usually January/ February, but sometimes March).

I hope the data surprises you as much as it surprised me. Here’s the punchline:

• 18 of 50 states have current (Dec 2020) unemployment rates below 5%
• 22 of 50 states are within 200 basis points of their 2020 low
• 12 of the 22 states are in the West or Midwest

There’s a lot of data in this chart, but I think is should help indicate where recovery (and full employment, which brings with it employment hiring “pains” – how quickly we forget January and February) will be quickest. Also, one can see where the recovery of the travel and leisure sector will benefit certain states (Nevada, Florida, even Texas and California).

Thought this data would be useful and help someone out. Welcome any comments.