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Washington Unemployment Claims Jump 10%
The number of initial regular unemployment claims in Washington during the week of ending December 5 totaled 24,587, a jump of 10.1% from the prior week. The Employment Security Department (ESD) also reports, total claims for all unemployment benefit categories rose 7.1% from the prior week to 492,533 Washingtonians. Initial regular claims applications remain at elevated levels and are at 145% above last year’s weekly new claims applications.
Initial regular claims applications, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) initial claims and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) initial claims and continued/ongoing claims for regular benefits all increased over the week. Increases in regular initial claims occurred across most industry sectors with the largest increases over the week occurring in the Health Care and Social Assistance (+587) and Construction (+561) industry sectors. ESD notes, increases in construction industry claims are expected this time of year.
The increases from within the HealthCare and Social Assistance sector came primarily from child day care services, services for the elderly and persons with disabilities, and from general medical and surgical hospitals.
In the week ending December 5, ESD paid out more than $148.8 million for 300,987 individual claims. Since the crisis began in March, ESD has paid more than $12.8 billion in benefits to more than a million Washingtonians.
For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Dennis Kaiser
- ◦Economy
