Disclaimer: The information on this dashboard is a snapshot in time. Data will change as pending claims and appeals are approved or denied. The data provided on the dashboard is updated quarterly, typically by the 20th of the month after the end of the quarter.
More information about the data can be found below the charts.
Page 1: Unique individuals filing claims
Total number of individuals filing unemployment claims per month. Claims include all unemployment claims for regular unemployment insurance (UI), and federally funded pandemic related claims (PUA and PEUC).
Page 2: Unique claims filed by month
Status and number of unique weekly claims filed by month. Claimants file claims each week, certifying they are eligible for benefits. These weekly claims are evaluated by ESD. If the claimant is found to be eligible for benefits, ESD issues a payment for that week. A claimant can file multiple claims for different programs, so the number of claims can be higher than the individuals filing. Claimants will be paid from the program for which they are eligible. Pending claims are not paid until any eligibility issues are decided.
Page 3: Benefits paid
Total amount of benefits paid from all unemployment insurance programs including state-funded regular UI and federally funded PUA, PEUC, and FPUC.
Page 4: Appeals by status
A claimant or employer can appeal the outcome of an ESD determination to allow or deny unemployment insurance benefits. The chart shows the number of appeal requests received in the month and the status of the requests as of the chart publication data. Statuses include:
No action taken: The request has been reviewed by staff who close the work item with no further action because the request is a duplicate, the request is moot because the requested relief has already been granted, or the claimant is not an aggrieved party.
Pending: The number of appeal requests received by the department that are currently being reviewed for transmittal to OAH or to redetermine the department's original decision.
Redetermined: The request has been reviewed by staff and the outcome has been redetermined to allow benefits based on new information.
Sent to OAH: A formal request for an appeal hearing is sent by ESD staff to the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH). This happens after staff review the appeal and determine that the denial of benefits still stands or any of the relief requested in the appeal was not granted and therefore the claimant is an aggrieved party.
Page 5: Claimant call center statistics
The Unemployment Claims Center tracks multiple data points related to customer calls. Call statuses include:
Answered: Number of calls answered by an agent from queues for the following claim center units: Intake, Adjudication and SAW Portal Help Desk.
Abandoned: Number of calls abandoned by a customer from queues before being answered by an agent for the following claim center units: Intake, Adjudication and SAW Portal Help Desk.
High Call Volume Messages: Number of calls (not individual customers) that receive the high-call volume message. The calls are not put in a queue or on hold due to the high number of calls coming into the claims center and callers are asked to try again later. Because one person may make many repeat calls, the count of high-volume messages is higher than the number of individuals seeking assistance.
Page 6: Employer call center statistics
Answered: Number of calls answered by an agent from queue from the Account Management Center (AMC) which supports employers with tax related issues.
Abandoned: Number of calls abandoned by a customer from queue before being answered by an agent from queues from the Account Management Center (AMC) which supports employers with tax related issues.
Page 7: Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate
Unemployment rate for Washington state by month.
Page 8: Unemployment recipiency rate
The unemployment insurance recipiency rate is the number of individuals receiving unemployment compensation divided by the total number people who are unemployed. This data comes from the monthly, seasonally-adjusted, local-area unemployment statistics gathered in the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics survey.
Unemployment compensation includes state unemployment compensation, unemployment compensation for federal employees and unemployment compensation for ex-service members. The recipiency rate does not include claimants receiving federally-funded benefits in our calculation of total benefit recipients.
Page 9: Overpayments established by benefits entitlement
Overpayments are established when ESD determines that a claimant received benefits when they should not have, either because they were ineligible or paid an incorrect weekly benefit amount.
Page 10: Overpayment waiver requests and outcomes
Overpayments may be waived if all three of the following conditions are met:
- The claimant was not at fault for creating the overpayment.
- The payment was not 'conditional' as ESD was determining eligibility.
- Collecting the overpayment would create a financial hardship.
When claimants are potentially eligible for a waiver, ESD offers a waiver request form that requests financial information from the claimant to determine their ability to pay. When ESD receives that completed form, an adjudication staff member determines if the claimant is eligible for a waiver.
Overpayments from the pandemic-era are being reviewed with expanded waiver guidelines.
Page 11: Adjudication timeliness and quality
Timeliness is calculated for separation issues (quits and discharges from employment) and for all other non-separation issues that could potentially prevent benefit payments.
The USDOL Benefit Timeliness and Quality (BTQ) program estimates the overall quality of adjudication by reviewing a statistically representative sample of UI benefit eligibility determinations against 100-point scoring criteria.
Acronyms and abbreviations
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) was an emergency program established by the federal government that temporarily expanded unemployment insurance eligibility to self-employed workers, freelancers, independent contractors, and other workers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) was an emergency program established by the federal government that extended unemployment insurance for those who exhausted their regular unemployment benefits.
Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) was an emergency program established by the federal government that added an additional $300 per week in benefits to most claimants.
Questions about this dashboard? Contact media@esd.wa.gov