According to information released by the Alabama Department of Labor on Thursday, 74,966 Alabamians filed initial unemployment claims last week alone.
This means that a total of 419,347 Alabamians have filed initial unemployment claims since February 8. Governor Kay Ivey declared a State of Emergency due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak on March 13.
Last week’s number of initial claims actually rose from the week previous, as 66,432 Alabamians filed an initial claim during the week ending April 18.
You can view a county-by-county map of initial claims from the week ending April 25 here.
Jefferson County had the most with 11,878 initial claims, followed by Mobile County (8,257), Madison County (5,615), Baldwin County (4,099), Montgomery County (3,859), Tuscaloosa County (3,429), Calhoun County (2,293) and Shelby County (2,192).
According to WalletHub, Alabama had the nation’s 10th largest increase in initial unemployment claims last week.
In a statement last week, ADOL reminded workers that if an employer calls them back, they must accept the work.
“It’s important for workers to know that if their employer reopens or otherwise calls them back to work, they must do so, unless they have a good work-related cause,” ADOL Secretary Fitzgerald Washington said. “Attempts to collect unemployment benefits after quitting without a good work-related cause can be considered fraud.”
RELATED: Alabama launches online unemployment claim tracker
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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