Unemployment claims rise rapidly

OLYMPIA — Last week, unemployment insurance claims in the state rose by over 2,346 percent since the end of February due to the closures mandated by public officials following the coronavirus outbreak.

According to data from the Employment Security Department, the state recorded 5,687 new unemployment insurance claims from Feb. 23 to Feb. 29, just before the first COVID-19 death in Washington was announced.

On Thursday, the Employment Security Department released the unemployment claims data for the week ending on March 21. The state saw 133,464 new unemployment claims in that single week.

A week earlier, the state saw a 116 percent increase in claims from the week before.

Don Meseck, regional labor economist, said the rate of increase was “basically unprecedented.” He said that a week before the Employment Security Department would record a 942 percent increase from March 14 to March 21.

Grant County, which only saw 185 claims in the first two weeks of March, recorded 1,039 new claims the following week.

In the same week, Adams County recorded 154 claims, an increase of more than 850 percent from the week before.

Meseck said the sectors being most affected are food service-related jobs, recreational services and educational services. Businesses in these sectors were among the first to be closed in response to the virus outbreak.

According to ESD data, from March 8 to March 21, the state recorded nearly 45,000 unemployment filings from the food service and accommodation sector, more than 7,850 filings from the arts, entertainment and recreation sector, and more than 5,400 filings from the educational services sector. Contrary to what one might expect during a public health crisis such as this, over 19,700 health care and social services workers filed for unemployment during the same two-week time-period.

Meseck said this is likely because patients and clinics have postponed non-essential surgeries and clinical appointments.