Unemployment claims level off, but 'we're not out of the woods'
New unemployment claims have held steady for the past three weeks, plateauing at a rate that exceeds the peak of the 2008 recession, according to the Washington state Employment Security Department (ESD).
There were 718,000 combined new and continuing unemployment claims last week, including for pandemic-specific unemployment insurance. ESD regional economist Anneliese Vance-Sherman said despite leveling off, that figure shows “we’re not out of the woods.”
“The hope when this happened was that jobs would disappear and snap right back, and people would go back to the same jobs they had,” Vance-Sherman said. “The longer this goes, the less likely that is to happen.”
May unemployment claims released last week show the state unemployment rate is 15.1%, down slightly from the revised April unemployment rate of 16.3% but drastically higher than May 2019 when the rate was just 4.4%. Unemployment rates are high across the state but particularly in coastal counties that rely more heavily on hospitality and tourism, Vance-Sherman said, which were heavier-hit by the pandemic. Counties with significant manufacturing industries are also showing higher rates, she said.
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