Arizona’s unemployment trust fund began the week with $273,482,056 after paying $44,484,243 in claims. The weekly payout for regular unemployment in September was as high as $155,000,000. At those rates, the trust fund could run out of money before the end of next month or sooner.
The trust fund is used to pay regular unemployment claims, not pandemic unemployment which the federal government funds to take care of the self-employed.
Arizona’s economy, like that of the rest of the nation, is struggling to recover, according to economists. Despite the slowly improving picture, last week’s unemployment claims were still triple what they were at the beginning of the year.
“Since the pandemic began, we’ve been paying out more out of the fund than revenues going in. So, the trust fund balance has been declining,” said George Hammond, director of the Economic and Business Research Center at the University of Arizona Eller College of Management.
Arizona is not the first state to face the possibility of insolvency in its unemployment funds during the pandemic.
The state has “planned ahead,” according to Patrick Ptak, a spokesman for Gov. Doug Ducey.
Arizona can use money from the billion-dollar rainy day fund to help fill in the unemployment trust fund. It also can use money from the federal CARES Act, according to Ptak.
“Bottom line is: We won't be caught off guard; we have options,” he wrote in an email.
Forty-five thousand new unemployment claims were filed in Arizona during September, according to the state Department of Economic Security.
Those numbers do not include those claiming pandemic unemployment.
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October 03, 2020 at 05:12AM
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State unemployment fund in danger of running out - Arizona Public Media
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