According to Bloomberg's rankings (based on wealth disparity, average unemployment benefits, and overall unemployment pool), and somewhat confirming the food-divide discussion we had last night [4], the following states are the worst to live in if you are unemployed. Connecticut tops the list with its massive wealth disparity - more than one $200,000 household for every household earning less than $10,000. New York, California, and D.C. are close behind with Oregon and Alabama in 19th and 20th 'worst' place to be unemployed. Welcome to the bifurcated un-recovery.
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Methodology
Bloomberg Rankings used three criteria to identify the worst states to be unemployed: income replacement, or average unemployment benefits (as of the 2Q 2012) as a percentage of median state income per capita; unemployment pool, or how states stack up on unemployment, using October 2012 rates; and wealth disparity, the ratio of households with incomes of at least $200,000 to those with incomes of less than $10,000, according to the most recently available data from 2009. Each state was ranked on the three criteria and the ranks were averaged.
Source: Bloomberg Briefs