But in South Dakota, Utah and Nebraska, unemployment claims have been far more muted. In all three states, initial jobless claims from March 14 through May 2 were less than 11% of their respective March labor forces. "Macro economists, we tend to homogenize the states," said Joseph Santos, professor of economics at South Dakota State University. During the past seven weeks, 110,764 Nebraska residents filed initial claims for unemployment benefits, or about 10.5% of its March labor force, according to Labor Department data. As with South Dakota, the initial claims data doesn't reflect the impact to farmers and ranchers, which account for about 5% of the state's jobs.

Source: CNN May 12, 2020 18:56 UTC