AR: New unemployment filings dropped by more than 11,000

ARKANSAS (KNWA/KFTA) — In Arkansas, 24,236 people filed for unemployment for the week ending April, 18. This is a decrease of 11,393 from the previous week (April 11) when 35,629 filed, according to the Department of Labor’s (DOL) weekly report.

The DOL states that COVID-19 continues to impact the number of initial unemployment claims.

Nationally, for the week ending April, 18, there were 4.4 million claims — a decrease of 810,000 from the previous week’s level. Also, the previous week (April 11) was revised to a lower number by 8,000 from 5.245 million to 5.237 million by the DOL.

ARKANSAS COVID-19 DATA

Total positive and negative test results are 29,713. Negative tests are at 27,437 and positive tests are 2,276. There have been 863 recoveries and 42 deaths, according to the COVID Tracking Project, as of 8:15 a.m. Thursday, April 23.