West Coast unemployment is the worst in the US as tech firms slash headcount

• California, Oregon, and Washington were all in the top 10 states with the highest unemployment rates in April.
• The West Coast has borne the brunt of tech layoffs in recent months.

Even though unemployment is still near a historic low and the national labor market is still red-hot, the West Coast is feeling the pain of tech layoffs.

The Wall Street Journal highlighted higher unemployment rates in the tech-heavy states on the Pacific Coast in the wake of news-grabbing layoff announcements in the tech and finance sectors throughout this year. The Journal also noted that average wages have dropped in counties in the San Francisco and Seattle metro areas.

The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that California, Washington, and Oregon were all among the top ten states with the highest unemployment rates in April. California's 4.5% rate, Washington's 4.3%, and Oregon's 4.0% were all well above the national unemployment rate of 3.5% that month.

Other states saw higher-than-average unemployment too. Nevada came in with the highest unemployment rate in April at 5.4%. Texas and New York both had 4.0% unemployment rates.

While the West Coast is seeing some pain from tech layoffs and the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in March, the broader labor market continues to be strong, and unemployment even in these states is far lower than it was during the height of the pandemic. The US keeps adding jobs at a rapid pace, and even though unemployment ticked up in April, it remains at a historically low rate.

Still, the rest of the year will show whether or not the recent wave of tech layoffs spreads to the broader economy and leads to a long-awaited recession.