The hustle and bustle of tourists along the Las Vegas Strip has been replaced by shuttered hotels, shops, and casinos. The damage to U.S. tourism is so great that Nevada now leads the entire nation with a 28.2% unemployment rate in April—a figure that is greater than the 25.6% peak U.S. jobless rate during the Great Depression.
The national unemployment rate sits at 14.7%, however, 17 states have surpassed that, according to data state unemployment figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.