How do you start an unemployment claim in Arizona?
The Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) pays weekly benefits to people who lost a job through no fault of their own. Your first step is a claim in CACTUS, DES's online portal, filed as soon as your job ends.
UI Call Center: 1-877-600-2722
Arizona workers do not pay into unemployment insurance; employer taxes fund every benefit DES pays. To qualify you need enough recent wages, a job lost through no fault of your own, and the ability to take work each week; who qualifies has the wage tests and the reasons DES can deny a claim.
The first steps run in this order:
- Apply in CACTUS after an ID.me identity check. DES also takes its paper form by mail, and its claims rule allows claims by phone, though DES may limit that route.
- Watch the mail for your Monetary Determination, which shows your weekly amount, and return the Certificate of Understanding that comes with it.
- From the Sunday after you apply, file a weekly claim every week, even before DES processes your application.
Arizona has no unemployment offices. For help in person, ARIZONA@WORK job centers give you a computer to file on at no cost and free help with resumes and job searching, though DES handles the claim itself online and by phone. Offices and phone numbers lists the centers and DES's lines.
DES registers you with AZ Job Connection, the state job bank, within days of your application. How much unemployment pays and how long benefits last explain the figures above, and appeals and overpayments covers a denial.
Arizona unemployment guides
- How to fileEvery way to file a claim, what to have ready, and the weeks that follow
- Who qualifiesThe base period, the wage tests, and the reasons DES can deny a claim
- How much it paysThe weekly amount, part-time earnings, severance, and other deductions
- How long it lasts24 or 26 weeks, your total award, the benefit year, and Extended Benefits
- Weekly claims and work searchThe weekly claim window, work search log, payment card, RESEA, and earnings
- Denials, appeals, and overpaymentsAppeal deadlines, the hearing, overpayments, waivers, fraud, and bankruptcy
- TaxesFederal and Arizona tax, withholding, and the 1099-G form
- Offices and phone numbersWhy there is no office to visit, every DES line and its job, and job centers
- DisabilitySSDI and SSI, DES Vocational Rehabilitation, workers' comp, and unemployment
- JobsAZ Job Connection, ARIZONA@WORK job centers, approved training, and RESEA
- Questions and answersShort answers on claiming, severance, part-time pay, bankruptcy, and other aid