Unemployment insurance claims still high in county, state

Claims for unemployment insurance remain high in Whatcom County and throughout the state during the week of November 29 to December 5, according to data released by Washington’s Employment Security Department (ESD).

During the week of November 15 to 21, the same week governor Jay Inslee ordered tighter restrictions statewide in order to reduce the spread of Covid-19, Washington state saw its most claims filed since early July but did not come close to the number filed in late March and early April of this year when Inslee’s shelter-in-place order went into effect.

While the number of claims filed has dropped the past two weeks, Anneliese Vance-Sherman, a regional labor economist with ESD, said the ESD is still seeing job loss across the county and state.

There were 745 initial claims filed in the county during the week of November 29 to December 5, compared to 662 claims the week before.

Statewide, 24,587 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed with the ESD during the week of November 29 to December 5, which was an increase of 2,253 new claims over the previous week, when 22,334 claims were filed.

“On the one hand, we’re seeing a lot of people finding jobs, but we’re also seeing people move into long-term unemployment,” Vance-Sherman said.

She said many people have moved on to extension programs, like Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) and Extended Benefits, which are federally funded programs that provide extra weeks of benefits after regular unemployment is exhausted. However, PEUC expires December 26 and those on it can apply for Extended Benefits when it does.

Vance-Sherman said the ESD is seeing an increase in job gains but that the percent growth is slowing. The winter season and stricter Covid-19 restrictions are a factor for the diminished growth, she said.

The industry sectors with the highest numbers of new claims statewide from November 29 to December 5 were food services and drinking places (4,216 new claims), unknown (3,078 new claims), specialty trade contractors (2,337 new claims) and administrative and support services (1,323 new claims).

In Whatcom County, industry sectors with the most new claims in the week ending on December 5 were food services and drinking places (145 new claims), specialty trade contractors (87 new claims), educational services (44 new claims) and construction of buildings (26 new claims). Undisclosed industry sector claims made up 263 initial unemployment claims in the county during that time, while only 519 claims did not disclose statewide.

Nationwide, in the week ending on December 5, there were 853,000 initial claims, an increase of 137,000 from the previous week’s revised level, which was revised up by 4,000 claims from 712,000 to 716,000, according to a December 10 press release from the U.S. Department of Labor.

The four-week moving average was 776,00, an increase of 35,500 new claims from the previous week’s revised average, which was revised up by 1,500 claims from 739,000 to 740,500.

Vance-Sherman said the spike of unemployment claims nationally has many factors.

“Fifty states going through all sorts of different infection rates and restrictions,” she said. “There are just a lot of moving parts on the federal level.”