Jobless claims soar in county, state amid COVID-19
OLYMPIA — The number of people seeking unemployment benefits in Washington set a new record last week, with tens of thousands more people in the state filing new claims as non-essential businesses remain closed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Numbers released Thursday by the state Employment Security Department showed that 181,975 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed with the state during the week of for the week of March 22-28, a 41 percent increase over the previous week’s earlier record of 128,962 new claims.
Employment Security Department Commissioner Suzi LeVine noted that last week’s number of claims is a 3,513% increase over the same week in 2019, calling it a “mind-boggling number.”
Snohomish County experienced the highest percentage increase in total initial claims of any county. There were 21,176 new claims filed, up from 13,692 the previous week. That is a 55% jump, according to the state agency.
Nationally, nearly 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That’s double a record high set a week earlier and signals layoffs are accelerating, as businesses shutter amid “stay home” orders in most states.
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/jobless-claims-soar-in-county-state-amid-covid-19/
