Clark County sees 31 percent increase in unemployment claims

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Clark County residents filed 1,168 initial regular unemployment claims for the week of Sept. 13-19, a rise of 31 percent and 277 claims from the previous week.

The county’s initial regular unemployment claims have remained relatively stable for the past 17  weeks since May 24-30, except for a jump the week of July 5-11 when 1,911 residents filed. 

By industry for Sept. 13-19, workers in educational services filed the most claims, followed by specialty trade contractors, and food services and drinking places.

There was some other good news, too, for Clark County this week. Its overall unemployment rate dropped to 9.4 percent in August from July’s 11.7 percent.



Washington state residents, meanwhile, filed 19,574 initial regular unemployment claims Sept. 13-19 — a jump of 6.4 percent from the previous week —  and 540,153 total claims for all unemployment benefit categories — down 4.6 percent from the prior week, according to the state Employment Security Department. 

For the week of Sept. 6-12, residents filed 18,403 initial regular unemployment claims and the week before that 20,006. Initial regular claims applications remain 271 percent above that for the same time period in 2019.

For the current week, ESD paid more than $154.5 million for 337,390 individual claims — a decrease of $2.8 million for 2,963 fewer people compared to the prior week.