Unemployment Rates Skyrocket In Northern Arizona Due To The COVID-19 Pandemic

Unemployment rates have skyrocketed in Northern Arizona during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Office of Economic Opportunity, Coconino County’s unemployment rate more than doubled from 8.1-percent in March to 16.9-percent in April with just over eight-thousand new unemployment insurance claims in 2020. Yavapai County saw the biggest jump in numbers with the jobless rate nearly tripling over a month’s time. In March, the jobless rate was 5.9-percent in the county. In April, the unemployment rate is up to 13.8-percent with over ten-thousand new claims this year. Navajo County jumped from 10.4-to-14.1-percent and Apache County went from 13.9-to-15.4-percent in April. There have been over 600-thousand new unemployment claims in Arizona so far this year.