A press release from Washington State Employment Security Department.
During the week of September 12 to September 18, there were 4,850 initial regular unemployment claims, down 0.2 percent from the prior week. Total claims filed by Washingtonians for all unemployment benefit categories numbered 112,948, down 55.4 percent from the prior week, primarily due to the expiration of federal pandemic benefit programs the previous week.
- Initial regular claims applications are 75 percent below weekly new claims applications for the same period last year during the pandemic.
- The 4-week moving average for regular initial claims was 4,997, a decrease of 127 from the previous week’s 4-week moving average. During the same time in 2019, it was 5,146.
- Decreases in layoffs in manufacturing & professional, scientific, and technical services contributed to a decrease of 10 regular initial claims over the previous week.
- Although federal benefit programs, including Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) as well as the additional $300 per week for most claimants, expired the week ending Sept. 4, 2021, benefits will continue to be paid after 4, 2021 for individuals whose claims are pending in adjudication or on appeal if they are determined to be eligible for payment. Learn more at esd.wa.gov/covid-19.
In the week ending September 18, the Employment Security Department (ESD) paid out over $52 million for 53,687 individual claims. Since the crisis began in March 2020, ESD has paid more than $21.3 billion in benefits to over 1.19 million Washingtonians.
| Unemployment claim type | Sept. 12-18 | Sept 5-11 | Aug. 29- Sept. 4 |
| Regular Unemployment Insurance (UI) initial claims | 4,850 | 4,860 | 5,205 |
| Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) initial claims | 1,122 | 1,223 | 1,417 |
| Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) initial claims | 524 | 557 | 1,503 |
| Continued or ongoing weekly claims | 106,452 | 238,705 | 250,510 |
| Total claims | 112,948 | 245,345 | 257,702 |
Note: You can find detailed claims data anytime on the ESD website.
