Employment Security Department
20-047

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – September 3, 2020

CONTACTS

Media inquiries: media@ESD.WA.GOV

Initial regular and continued unemployment benefit claims declined during week of August 23-29

OLYMPIA – During the week of August 23 through August 29, there were 18,172 initial regular unemployment claims (down 1.2 percent from the prior week) and 560,920 total claims for all unemployment benefit categories (down 1.4 percent from the prior week) filed by Washingtonians, according to the Employment Security Department (ESD).  

• Initial regular claims applications remain at elevated levels and are at 270 percent above last year’s weekly new claims applications.
• Regular Unemployment Insurance and continuing claims all decreased over the previous week while Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) initial claims as well as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) initial claims increased over the week.

ESD paid out over $178.9 million for 357,248 individual claims – a decrease of $3.5 million and 128 more individuals compared to the prior week.

For more information on current claimants and claims processing progress, please go to the benefits data dashboard on the ESD website.

Below is a twenty-six-week summary of statewide initial claims filed since the start of the COVID-19 crisis:

Weekly data breakdown

By industry

Industry sectors experiencing the highest number of initial claims during August 23- August 29 were:

• Accommodation and food services: 1,965 initial regular claims, down 196 (-9 percent) from previous week
• Health care and social assistance: 1,677 initial regular claims, down 9 (-1 percent) from the previous week
• Educational services: 1,669 initial regular claims, up 464 (+39 percent) from previous week
• Construction: 1,630 initial regular claims, down 157 (-9 percent) from the previous week
• Retail trade: 1,534 regular initial claims, up 4 (+0.3 percent) from the previous week

By occupation

• Food preparation and serving: 2,118 regular initial claims, down 105 (-5 percent) from previous week
• Management occupations:  2,023 regular initial claims, down 12 (-1 percent) from the previous week
• Construction and extraction occupations:  1,920 regular initial claims, down 55 (-3 percent) from the previous week
• Transportation and material moving occupations:  1,550 regular initial claims, up 60 (+4 percent) from previous week
• Sales as related occupations:  1,167 regular initial claims, down 41 (-3 percent) from the previous week

By county

King County, the most populous county in the state, saw initial regular claims decrease from 4,773 to 4,763 during the week of August 23 - August 29, down 0.2 percent from the week before.

Other counties with the largest number of initial claims during the week were:

• Pierce County: Initial regular claims filed increased from 2,388 to 2,443 up 2 percent from the week before.
• Snohomish County: Initial regular claims filed decreased from 2,083 to 1,911 down 8 percent from the week before.
• Spokane County: Initial regular claims filed decreased from 1,057 to 1,040 down 2 percent from the week before.
• Clark County: Initial regular claims filed increased from 818 to 867 up 6 percent from the week before.

SharedWork

For employers looking to avoid layoffs or slowly ramp up re-hiring during this crisis, SharedWork is a great program that can help. You can learn more at esd.wa.gov/SharedWork

Please see new charts in the Appendix A below.  For complete information of weekly initial claims by industry sector and county for the year to date, also check the weekly unemployment initial claims charts compiled by ESD’s Labor Market & Economic Analysis division. For more information about specific counties, contact one of ESD’s regional local economists.

NOTE: ESD will send out the next weekly new claims press release on Thursday, September 10 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time.

Data disclaimer and definitions

Per U.S. Department of Labor regulations, weekly unemployment claims data is embargoed and not available for release until the Thursday following the claim week. 

Initial claims include individuals who filed first-time claims as well as additional claims filed by individuals as a result of a new unemployment event. Initial claims include claims that are still being reviewed for eligibility. Counts for initial claims are not indicative of the number of claims that will result in monetary compensation.

Continuing claims equal continued weeks claimed including a total of all weeks for which benefits were claimed, even though such benefits were not paid or payment status is uncertain or unknown, e.g., waiting weeks, partial weeks, weeks for which penalties are being served and weeks for which a monetary or nonmonetary issue is pending. 

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) is an emergency program established by the federal CARES Act that temporarily expands unemployment insurance eligibility to self-employed workers, freelancers, independent contractors, and part-time workers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) is an emergency program established by the federal CARES Act that extends unemployment insurance for an extra 13 weeks to those who have exhausted their regular unemployment benefits.

COVID-19 resources

Washington state Employment Security Department unemployment insurance information for workers and employers

State of Washington’s coronavirus website

Washington state Department of Health public health resources

Labor market web links

• Labor market information website
• Historical data(Excel spreadsheet)
• Current claims data
• Historical claims data(Excel spreadsheets)

Appendix A

Initial regular claims by industry sector

Initial regular claims by county

Initial regular claims by occupation