Employment Security Department
20-044

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – August 20, 2020

CONTACTS

Media inquiries: media@ESD.WA.GOV

More than 1 million Washingtonians have received almost $10 billion in benefits since the start of the pandemic

OLYMPIA – During the week of August 9 through August 15, there were 21,942 initial regular unemployment claims (down 0.9 percent from the prior week) and 589,631 total claims for all unemployment benefit categories (down 3.7 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 338 percent above last year’s weekly new claims applications.
• Regular Unemployment Insurance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) initial claims as well as continuing claims all decreased over the previous week while Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) initial claims increased by 4.0 percent.

ESD paid out over $198.6 million for 362,815 individual claims – a decrease of $74.4 million and 28,211 fewer individuals compared to the prior week.

*Figure was revised upward from the previously reported figure of 538,429

Since the week ending March 7 when COVID-19 job losses began:

• A total of 2,405,641 initial claims have been filed during the pandemic (1,519,550 regular unemployment insurance, 471,260 PUA and 414,831 PEUC)
• A total of 1,302,868 distinct individuals have filed for unemployment benefits
• ESD has paid out over $9.7 billion in benefits
• 1,005,211 individuals who have filed an initial claim have been paid – nearing a third of the state’s workforce

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

Below is a twenty-four-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 9- August 15 were:

• Accommodation and food services: 2,499 initial regular claims, up 264 (12 percent) from previous week
• Manufacturing: 2,264 regular initial claims, down 602 (-21 percent) from the previous week
• Health care and social assistance: 2,031 initial regular claims, up 109 (6 percent) from the previous week
• Construction: 1,884 initial regular claims, up 133 (8 percent) from the previous week
• Retail trade: 1,770 initial regular claims, up 11 (1 percent) from previous week

By occupation

• Food preparation and serving: 2,503 regular initial claims, up 201 (9 percent) from previous week
• Management occupations:  2,246 regular initial claims, down 61 (-3 percent) from the previous week
• Construction and extraction occupations:  2,140 regular initial claims, up 144 (7 percent) from the previous week
• Transportation and material moving occupations:  1,726 regular initial claims, up 64 (4 percent) from previous week
• Production occupations:  1,611 regular initial claims, down 119 (-7 percent) from the previous week

By county

King County, the most populous county in the state, saw initial regular claims decrease from 6,002 to 5,860 during the week of August 9 - August 15, down 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 2,771 to 2,776 up 0.2 percent from the week before.
• Snohomish County: Initial regular claims filed decreased from 3,040 to 2,617 down 14 percent from the week before.
• Spokane County: Initial regular claims filed decreased from 1,283 to 1,243 down 3 percent from the week before.
• Clark County: Initial regular claims filed increased from 924 to 1,086 up 18 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, August 27 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