CLEVELAND — In a study released on Wednesday, WalletHub reported on cities with the biggest increase in their unemployment rates.
This study is a followup on the company's previous report on states with largest spike in rates. Both studies looked at unemployment rates on monthly basis and year-over-year from April 2019 to April 2020.
Of the 180 cities compared based on three key metrics, Cleveland's cumulatively ranked 12th.
"Please note that this report relies on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which recently disclosed that it misclassified many workers on temporary layoffs as 'absent from work because of other reasons' rather than 'unemployed'," the report clarifies. WalletHub's report includes both the official rate from the BLS and an "adjusted" rate based on the error.
Year-over-year, Cleveland saw a 461.58% increase in unemployment, which was the 24th highest increase in the US.
The "adjusted" rate of unemployment for Cleveland in the month of April is 35.51%, coming in at the 6th highest of the 180 cities studied.
"It's hard to overstate just how disastrous the COVID-19 pandemic has been for U.S. employment," the study claims. "In total, the country has lost nearly 41 million jobs, wiping out years of gains since the last big economic crisis, the Great Recession."