Washington State’s economy has weathered the coronavirus pandemic better than any other state in the nation, according to an analysis by the personal finance website WalletHub.
Though the pandemic has forced hundreds of businesses around the state to close and generated record unemployment, Washington State has survived better than any other state, according to the report. The analysis compared 13 key metrics including the share of employment from small businesses to the share of workers with access to paid sick leave and the increase in unemployment insurance claims.
Key components for Washington State’s performance included:
- One of the highest shares of workers able to work from home
- A gross domestic product that is one of the least dependent on industries highly affected by the pandemic.
- A higher-than-average number of employees returning to work after being unemployed.
- A higher-than-average share of workers with access to paid sick leave.
Other states that did well in the study were Arizona, second least affected, and Oregon, which finished third. Some of the hardest hit states were Louisiana, Oklahoma, Hawaii, Ohio and Nevada.
