Republican-Led States Lead Way in Declining Unemployment Rates: Report

A hiring sign is displayed in Downers Grove, Ill., on June 24, 2021. Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo

Republican-led states are leading the way in decreasing unemployment rates compared to those led by Democratic governors, according to data released on Oct. 21 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

According to the state unemployment data for the month of September, 10 of the top 12 states with the lowest unemployment rates last month included Alabama, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia.

Meanwhile, eight of the 13 states with the highest unemployment rates in September were Democrat-led states and included Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Overall, 20 GOP-led states are below the national average for unemployment compared to just eight Democrat-led states.

Responding to the latest data, the Washington, D.C.-based Republican Governors Association’s Communications Director Jesse Hunt said in a statement that an increasing number of Americans fed up with soaring inflation and economic volatility will be looking to vote for GOP candidates in the upcoming midterm elections.

“Americans are fed up with Joe Biden’s and Democrat governors’ failure to combat still-high inflation and stifled economic growth, and are looking to Republican candidates to lead them out of this crisis,” said Hunt. “After bearing witness to red state success over the last two years, in 18 days, voters across the country will lock in their votes for the GOP nominee to guarantee a brighter economic future for their states.”

‘Republican-Led States Continue to Keep Americans Working’

The latest data come after a September analysis by the Economic Innovation Group found that counties across the United States where most residents voted for President Donald Trump in the 2020 elections are recouping all their COVID-19 pandemic job losses at a faster rate than those that voted for President Joe Biden.

According to that report, by the end of the first quarter of 2022, counties that supported Trump were just 124,000 jobs short of where they stood prior to the pandemic in first 2020. That’s compared to counties in which a majority of the residents voted for Biden, which began 2022 with an employment shortfall of 1.7 million jobs, or 1.8 percent of total pre-pandemic employment.

Biden-leaning states were likely to recover the jobs they lost to the pandemic in late 2022, according to analysts, whereas states that Trump won surpassed pre-pandemic employment levels back in January this year.

With less than three weeks to go before the midterm elections, the majority of registered American voters believe that the Republican Party will do a better job of handling the economy than the Democrats, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll.

Specifically, that poll found that 36 percent of Americans trust Republicans to do a better job dealing with the economy, compared to 24 percent who think Democrats will.

On Monday, the Republican National Committee wrote on Twitter: “Republican-led states continue to keep Americans working, children in schools, and small businesses operating. Meanwhile, Biden and the Democrats created a recession, historic inflation, and high gas prices.”