AR: 9,000+ filed for unemployment — week ending 6/6

by: Ninette Sosa

Posted: Jun 11, 2020 / 08:35 AM CDT / Updated: Jun 11, 2020 / 08:35 AM CDT

A man walks by a career center storefront, Friday, June 5, 2020, in Lawrence, Mass. The U.S. unemployment rate fell unexpectedly in May to 13.3% — still on par with what the nation witnessed during the Great Depression — as states loosened their COVID lockdowns and businesses began recalling workers. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

ARKANSAS (KNWA/KFTA) — Initial unemployment claims increased in Arkansas for the week ending June 6, according to the Department of Labor’s report (DOL). Last week there were 8,481 and this week 9,151 claims were filed.

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims — gives money to self-employed and contract workers, who were previously ineligible for unemployment — did not have any data for Arkansas.

Nationally, 1.5 million Americas filed initial unemployment claims for the week ending June 6, “a decrease of 82,886 (or -5.1 percent) from the previous week,” according to the DOL report..

California still leads the way with the highest unemployment with 258,000 filing claims, followed by Georgia with nearly 135,000, and Florida with 110,520.

COVID-19 continues to be the reason for the high number of people applying for initial claims, according to the Department of Labor.

Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims

Initial claims were 1,542,000 for the week ending 6/6 (-355,000).

Insured unemployment was 20,929,000 for the week ending 5/30 (-339,000).https://t.co/ys7Eg5LKAW
— US Labor Department (@USDOL) June 11, 2020