New unemployment claims down for third straight week

Published 10:05 am Tuesday, April 28, 2020

OLYMPIA — Washington state and Pacific County saw the lowest number of weekly unemployment claims since the coronavirus pandemic began, but state officials believe the biggest weekly surge is still ahead of us.

In the county, 168 more workers filed initial unemployment claims with the Washington State Employment Security Department from April 12 through April 18, a week-over-week decrease of 36.4%. Nearly 1,600 workers in Pacific County have filed for unemployment since the beginning of March, representing about 18.7% of the county’s labor force.

ESD officials expect a record number of claims to have been filed last week, when several provisions from the federal CARES Act went into effect on April 19. Provisions include: expanding eligibility for unemployment benefits to previously ineligible workers such as independent contractors and self-employed workers; increasing weekly unemployment benefits by $600; and extending benefits by 13 weeks, for a total of 39 weeks.

In just the first 36 hours last week, the number of applications submitted statewide exceeded the previous highest week on record, when about 182,000 applications were received from March 22 through March 28. The total number of applications for last week will be released by ESD on April 30.

ESD Commissioner Suzi LeVine said nearly $1 billion was issued to unemployed workers from the department last week, bringing the total amount paid out from the state’s unemployment coffers to almost $1.4 billion. The unemployment insurance program had $4.7 billion in its trust fund account at the start of the pandemic.

Weekly claims likely to top 1 millionStarting this week, ESD also expects the number of weekly continuous claims to top 1 million. The department is worried that the sheer volume of people trying to file their weekly claim will bog down the system.

In an effort to ease strain on its website, ESD is asking claimants to help lighten the system’s load and spread the submission of claims over a period of all seven days, rather than Sunday and Monday — the two days with the highest volume.

Contrary to what many people believe, ESD said claims do not have to be filed on Sunday at the beginning of the week in order to receive benefits for that week. Claims can be filed Sunday morning through Saturday night on its website to receive that week’s benefits. The department said traffic is at its lowest from late night to early in the morning, typically from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

ESD also asks for those who can afford to wait until after Monday to file their claim to do so. With Sunday and Monday being the two busiest days of the week, the department hopes to prioritize weekly claim filings on the first two days of the week for those who need the benefits the most.

For those not submitting a weekly claim for the first time, ESD suggests submitting your claim via automated phone system after 6 p.m. by calling 800-318-6022. Using the phone system will ease the strain on the online system and allow those submitting for the first time on the department’s website to have more success filing their claim.