The Alabama Department of Labor on Thursday released the latest weekly data on initial unemployment claims filed in the state.

Covering last week, June 14 — 20, the data showed that 18,671 initial claims were filed during the period. According to the Department of Labor, 11,311 of those claims are COVID-19 related.

This was a marginal uptick from the week prior, which saw 18,367 total initial claims filed.

While the rate of initial claims has generally tracked downwards since peaking the week ending April 4, last week’s number of initial claims still equals more than 10x the amount of initial claims filed in Alabama the week ending March 14, before the pandemic ravaged the state’s then-booming economy.

Historical table of weekly initial claims as follows:

3/14/2020 — 1,824
3/21/2020 — 10,982
3/28/2020 — 80,984
4/4/2020 — 106,739
4/11/2020 — 77,515
4/18/2020 — 66,432
4/25/2020 — 74,966
5/2/2020 — 28,985
5/9/2020 — 26,666
5/16/2020 — 25,150
5/23/2020 — 27,920
5/30/2020 — 21,335
6/6/2020 — 19,950
6/13/2020 — 18,367
6/20/2020 — 18,671

For the week ending June 20, Jefferson County had the largest number of initial claims (2,815), followed by Mobile (2,058), Montgomery (1,439) and Madison (1,140) Counties. You can view a county-by-county breakdown here.

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn