Surprisingly, or perhaps not, Oregon and Washington D.C. started out the month with unemployment claims were worse than the same week last year.  

WalletHub reported on new unemployment claims comparing week-over-week on October 25, with many states, including Montana, 96 percent below the peak during the COVID-19 pandemic.

23 states had unemployment claims that were lower than before the pandemic: Arkansas, Virginia, North Dakota, West Virginia, South Carolina, Delaware, Montana, Vermont, Colorado, Arizona, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Wyoming, Kansas, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Washington, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Ohio, Maryland, and New Jersey.

Least recovered were Hawaii, Louisiana, Oregon, Alabama, California, Michigan, Tennessee, New Mexico, and Kentucky.