For the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began, Washington state decreased both its initial claims for unemployment insurance and its total ongoing weekly claims.
For the week of July 12-18, Washington residents filed 29,438 initial regular employment claims — down 27.3 percent from the week prior — and 673,444 total unemployment benefits, a decrease of 4.7 percent from the previous week.
Clark County’s initial unemployment claims dropped significantly, too.
For the week of July 12-18, 1,293 county residents filed claims, compared to 1,911 from the previous week — a decrease of 32 percent. The number of claims was the lowest since the week of June 7-13, when 1,215 residents filed for unemployment insurance.
By industry, workers in food services filed the most claims, followed by specialty trade contractors, ambulatory health care services, and educational services.
Statewide for the week, the Employment Security Department paid out more than $493.6 million for 430,737 individual claims — an increase of 4.8 million and 7,193 individuals from the previous week.
But despite the decreases, initial regular unemployment claims are still 536 percent above last year’s weekly new claims applications.
Since March 7, considered the beginning of the pandemic in Washington, 2,311,878 residents have filed initial claims, and ESD has paid more than $8.1 billion in benefits to 945,044 individuals who have filed initial claims.
In a prepared statement, ESD Commissioner Suzi LeVine said: “We are making excellent progress on our efforts to resolve the claims for those who have been waiting the longest, having reduced that backlog by nearly 75 percent.”
In a Thursday afternoon press conference, LeVine offered additional details, calling the effort to reduce the backlog of eligible, unpaid residents “Operation 100 percent.”
“We are approaching resolutions to this effort, as we are now down to 20,518 remaining from the initial cohort of 81,500 people,” she said, adding that those who had yet to be paid initially filed claims from March 8 to June 18 and should expect their claims to be resolved by the end of July.
“We are keeping our nose to the grindstone as the end of the month approaches,” LeVine said. “Keeping our focus on resolving the claims for those who are waiting and getting benefits paid to those who are eligible as quickly as we can remains our agency’s top priority.”
