(NEXSTAR) – Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits rose to their highest level in eight months last week, but some states saw a larger number of claims than others.
According to an analysis by WalletHub, the 10 states with the largest week-over-week increase in unemployment claims were:
- Kentucky (208.93%)
- North Dakota (72.53%)
- Tennessee (62.46%)
- Minnesota (55.96%)
- Kansas (32.64%)
- Ohio (20.50%)
- Wyoming (20.25%)
- Mississippi (19.76%)
- New Mexico (15.82%)
- Idaho (13.36%)
When it comes to the biggest decreases, the top three were Nebraska (-50.02%), Michigan (-44.26%) and Iowa (-38.77%), respectively.
Despite the jump in unemployment claims in some states, filings remain historically low despite growing uncertainty about the future effects of President Trump’s tariffs.
“The unemployment rate as well as layoff and new hire dynamics have been fairly steady recently,” David J. Kuenzel, associate professor economics at Wesleyan University, told WalletHub. “In historical comparison, the US labor market is currently tighter and titled more in favor of employees than during most periods.”
A slowing of growth
The government has estimated that the U.S. economy shrank at a 0.2% annual pace in the first quarter of 2025, a slight upgrade from its first estimate. Growth was slowed by a surge in imports as companies in the U.S. tried to bring in foreign goods before Trump’s massive tariffs went into effect.
Trump is attempting to reshape the global economy by dramatically increasing import taxes to rejuvenate the U.S. manufacturing sector. The president has also tried to drastically downsize the federal government workforce, but many of those cuts are being challenged in the courts and Congress.
In a regulatory filing early Thursday, the packaged consumer goods company Procter & Gamble said it expected to cut 7,000 jobs — about 15% of its nonmanufacturing workforce — as part of a two-year restructuring plan.
Other companies that have announced job cuts this year include Workday, Dow, CNN, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Microsoft and Facebook parent company Meta.
The four-week average of jobless claims, which evens out some of the week-to-week gyrations during more volatile stretches, rose by 4,500 to 235,000, the most since late October.
The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for the week of May 24 inched down by 3,000 to 1.9 million.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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