Nearly 150,000 Arizona residents filed first-time unemployment claims last week, a new weekly record for the state.
The data from the Arizona Department of Economic Security shows the number of first-time claims filed for the week ending June 13 rose by 26,000 when compared to the previous week. The week ending April 4 was the highest number of unemployment claims previously. A total of 132,000 first-time claims were filed that week.
The number of claims of continued unemployment also rose last week by nearly 500,000, to 1.4 million.
The governor let his stay-at-home order expire on May 15, allowing most businesses to reopen. Many of the claims filed since then are the self-employed. Until the middle of May they were not allowed to file unemployment claims.
A temporary change in federal law allowed the self-employed to receive those benefits. That change in the law will expire at the end of the year.
A $600 additional weekly unemployment payment from the federal government is set to expire in the coming weeks. That will reduce the maximum payment in Arizona to $240 per week unless Congress renews the additional payment.
