U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-2) issued the following announcement on July 2
Initial regular claims for unemployment benefits increase again from the previous week
OLYMPIA – During the week of June 21 through June 27, there were 31,911 initial regular unemployment claims (up 7.8% from the prior week) and 696,272 total claims for all unemployment benefit categories (down 3.1% from the prior week) filed by Washingtonians, according to the Employment Security Department (ESD).
- Initial regular claims applications remain at unprecedented elevated levels and are at 473 percent above last year’s weekly new claims applications.
- Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) initial claims as well as continued/ongoing claims all declined over the previous week.
| Unemployment claim type | Week of
June 21-June 27 | Week of
June 14-June 20 | Week of
June 7-June 13 |
| Regular Unemployment Insurance (UI) initial claims | 31,911 | 29,612 | 29,028 |
| Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) initial claims | 8,997 | 7,813 | 9,346 |
| Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) initial claims | 6,884 | 7,044 | 7,650 |
| Continued/ongoing weekly claims | 648,480 | 674,146 | 649,508 |
| Total claims | 696,272 | 718,615 | 695,532 |
Since the week ending March 7 when COVID-19 job losses began:
- A total of 2,143,073 initial claims have been filed during the pandemic (1,340,721 regular unemployment insurance, 431,002 PUA and 371,350 PEUC)
- A total of 1,200,639 distinct individuals have filed for unemployment benefits
- ESD has paid out over $6.7 billion in benefits
- 866,416 individuals who have filed an initial claim have been paid
By industry
Industry sectors experiencing the highest number of initial claims during June 21- June 27 were:
- Accommodation and food services: 3,633 initial regular claims, up 221 (+7 percent) from previous week
- Health care and social assistance: 3,545 initial regular claims, up 99 (+3 percent) from the previous week
- Manufacturing: 3,303 regular initial claims, up 4 (0 percent) from the previous week
- Retail trade: 2,757 initial regular claims, up 396 (+17 percent) from previous week
- Construction: 2,632 initial regular claims, up 182 (+7 percent) from the previous week
- Management occupations: 3,903 regular initial claims, up 465 (+14 percent) from the previous week
- Food preparation and serving: 3,452 regular initial claims, up 216 (+7 percent) from previous week
- Office and administrative support: 3,091 regular initial claims, up 93 (+3 percent) from previous week
- Construction and extraction occupations: 2,753 regular initial claims, up 21 (+1 percent) from the previous week
- Transportation and material moving occupations: 2,316 regular initial claims, up 211 (+10 percent) from the previous week
- Production occupations: 2,205 regular initial claims, up 34 (+2 percent) from the previous week
King County, the most populous in the state saw initial regular claims increase from 8,752 to 9,179 during the week of June 21- June 27, up 5 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 3,702 to 3,950 up 7 percent from the week before.
- Snohomish County: Initial regular claims filed increased from 3,458 to 3,911 up 13 percent from the week before.
- Spokane County: Initial regular claims filed increased from 1,789 to 1,992 up 11 percent from the week before.
- Clark County: Initial regular claims filed increased from 1,336 to 1,357 up 2 percent from the week before.
During the week of June 21- June 27:
- By gender: 49.9 percent (15,932) of the initial regular claims were filed by males while 49.7 percent (15,873) were filed by females
- By age group: 26.9 percent (8,573) of initial regular claims were filed by the 25-34 years old age group, followed by 21.2 percent (6,775) by the 35-44 years old age group and 17.6 percent (5,607) by the 45-54 years old age group.
- By education level: 30.1 percent (9,619) of initial regular claims were filed by individuals with a high school diploma, included GED, followed by 24.1 percent (7,688) with some college and 16.1% (5,153) with a bachelor’s degree.
- By race/ethnicity: 61.1 percent (19,496) of initial regular claims were filed by Caucasians, followed by 8.3 percent (2,641) filed by Asians, 5.9 percent filed by Latino/Hispanics (1,870) and 5.8 percent filed by Black/African Americans (1,838).
- By disability status: 2.7 percent (849) of initial regular claims were from individuals identified as having a disability, including 0.8 percent (246) who identified themselves as disabled veterans.
- By veteran’s status: 5.1 percent (1,615) of initial regular claims were filed by veterans, including 135 initial regular claims from individuals eligible for veterans benefits due to family relations with a veteran.
NOTE: ESD will send out the next weekly new claims press release on Thursday, July 9 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.
Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) is an emergency program established by the CARES Act to increase unemployment benefits for Americans who are out of work because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under FPUC, eligible people who collect certain unemployment insurance benefits—including regular unemployment compensation—will get an extra $600 in federal benefits each week through July 31, 2020. They do not need to file a separate claim to receive this money, it is automatically added to their payment.
Original source can be found here.
Source: U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-2)
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