A press release from Washington State Employment Security Office.
During the week of July 4 – July 10, there were 5,488 initial regular unemployment claims (down 7.4 percent from the prior week) and 340,204 total claims for all unemployment benefit categories (down 0.9 percent from the prior week) filed by Washingtonians, according to the Employment Security Department (ESD).
- Initial regular claims applications are now 86 percent below weekly new claims applications during the same period last year during the pandemic.
- The 4-week moving average for initial claims is at 6,615 (as compared to the 4-week moving average of initial claims pre-pandemic of 6,071 initial claims). That level represents the lowest levels of initial claims for regular benefits since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, and the fifth consecutive week initial claims have reached a new pandemic low.
- Initial claims applications for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and continued/ongoing claims for all benefits decreased over the week.
- Initial claims applications for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) increased slightly over the week.
- Decreases in layoffs in Educational Services and Construction contributed to the decrease in regular initial claims last week.
In the week ending July 10, ESD paid out over $198 million for 253,888 individual claims. Since the crisis began in March 2020, ESD has paid more than $19.8 billion in benefits to over 1.1 million Washingtonians.
| Unemployment claim type | July 4-10 | June 27-July 3 | June 20-26 |
| Regular Unemployment Insurance (UI) initial claims | 5,488 | 5,924 | 7,505 |
| Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) initial claims | 1,363 | 1,905 | 1,663 |
| Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) initial claims | 465 | 451 | 1,233 |
| Continued/ongoing weekly claims | 332,888 | 334,966 | 358,555 |
| Total claims | 340,204 | 343,246 | 368,956 |
Note: You can find detailed claims data anytime on the ESD website.
