After the previous week’s spike in UI claims, which wasn’t quite as dramatic as it seemed, the Employment Security Department reports just under 17,000 initial claims were filed last week.
During the week of November 8- 14, there were 16,837 initial regular unemployment claims (down 33.2 percent from the prior week) and 434,114 total claims for all unemployment benefit categories (up 1.2 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 123 percent above last year’s weekly new claims applications.
- Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation initial claims decreased over the week.
- Continued/ongoing claims for regular benefits increased 3.7 percent over the week.
And about the big bump reported last week, ESD explains,
- The decrease in initial claims this week was expected. It is connected to a process required by law where some existing claimants must submit a new initial claim to ensure they are receiving benefits from the correct program. This process was a contributing factor to the increase in initial claims in last week’s release. You can learn more about that requirement on our website.
Here’s the three-week comparison.
|
Unemployment claim type |
Week of November 8-November 14 |
Week of November 1-November 7 |
Week of October 25-October 31 |
|
Regular Unemployment Insurance (UI) initial claims |
16,837 |
25,201 |
14,681 |
|
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) initial claims |
2,693 |
2,768 |
3,051 |
|
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) initial claims |
6,836 |
7,840 |
6,702 |
|
Continued/ongoing weekly claims |
407,748 |
393,254 |
441,129 |
|
Total claims |
434,114 |
429,063 |
465,563 |
