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Contact:   Susan Gordon, public information officer, 360-902-9454

OLYMPIA – Internet access is now so available in Washington that the Employment Security Department expects to use it to deliver key benefit information that until now automatically went out by mail.

Employment Security will stop routinely mailing its Handbook for Unemployed Workers to everyone who applies for unemployment benefits.

The 45-page manual spells out eligibility requirements and what individuals must do to continue receiving unemployment benefits. Budget reductions prompted the decision to cease automatic mailings. Last year, Employment Security spent about $325,000 to print and mail the manual to everyone who applied for benefits.

Starting today, new applicants will receive an email message instructing them to download the handbook from the department’s website. Anyone who doesn’t provide an email address will receive an inexpensive flyer in the mail with the same information.

Printed copies also are available at local WorkSource job centers or by calling Employment Security claims centers (800-318-6022).

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Broadcast version

In a cost-reduction move, the Employment Security Department will rely more heavily on the Internet to transmit eligibility requirements to people who apply for unemployment benefits.

For years, Employment Security mailed its Handbook for Unemployed Workers to all applicants. The forty-five-page handbook spells out what individuals must do to continue to receive benefits.

Last year, it cost about 325-thousand dollars to print and mail the manual to every applicant.

Now, the department is asking applicants to download the manual from its website at esd.wa.gov. Printed copies also may be picked up at WorkSource job centers or requested by calling the unemployment claims center.

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