GEORGIA
Percent Unemployed Getting Benefits: 16% (tied-second lowest)
Percent Average Weekly Wage Covered: 30% (13th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7% (eighth highest)
Black Unemployment Rate (2013): 13.5%
Georgia’s strong job growth could explain why residents spent only 11 weeks on average collecting unemployment insurance, the shortest period in the country. However, only 16% of applicants for unemployment insurance actually received it. This was tied with Tennessee for the nation’s second-lowest rate. Of those who received benefits, the average benefits amounted to just 30% of the average weekly wage, one of the lowest in the nation.