Nearly 20% of Whatcom's jobs have disappeared since coronavirus restrictions started
The number of new jobless claims slowed down across the state last week, but it provides a short respite before another expected surge.
Washington state had 82,435 new jobless claims for the week ending April 18, according to the latest data from the Employment Security Department. That’s down significantly from the peak of 181,975 new claims in the final week of March.
Whatcom County had 2,612 new jobless claims last week, down from a peak of 6,268 at the end of March. In the five weeks since the coronavirus pandemic restrictions took hold, 23,161 Whatcom residents have filed for unemployment benefits. That’s about 19.6% of the people working in this area in February.
Statewide jobless claims are expected to jump for this week as the unemployment benefits program was expanded on Saturday, April 19, to include a variety of people such as self-employed workers.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/nearly-20-of-whatcom-s-jobs-have-disappeared-since-coronavirus-restrictions-started/ar-BB136kel?ocid=hplocalnews
