Washington Employment Security Commissioner Suzi LeVine speaks at a news conference in April.
The number of initial, weekly and pandemic-related claims for unemployment insurance remains at historical levels, a weekly report out Thursday from the state Employment Security Department says.
“Although the number of initial claims have dropped significantly since the height of the crisis, and even dipped since last week’s figures, our current ‘steady state’ of initial claims is about 89 percent higher than the peak of the Great Recession,” ESD Commissioner Suzi LeVine said in a prepared statement this week.
According to update numbers provided by Employment Security, the week of June 28 through July 4 saw an 11-percent decrease in the number of new initial claims statewide, from 31,911 the week prior to 28,393.
But total claims for unemployment benefits rose about 5.7 percent, from 696,272 the week before to 736,151. Pandemic assistance and pandemic-related initial claims have seen increases over the previous week, as well.
The number of initial claims in Lewis County saw a slight decrease the week of June 28 through July 4 — from 269 the week before to 247.
Industries that saw the largest number of initial claims reported from that week include food and drinking establishments, public administration and ambulatory health care services.
The state’s unemployment rate hangs high at about 15.1 percent. In Lewis County, the unemployment rate stands above the state’s at 15.8 percent, with 5,727 of the county’s 36,331-person labor force out of work.
Since the start of the pandemic, Employment Security has paid out roughly $7.2 billion in unemployment benefits. Approximately 883,242 Washington state residents who have filed an initial claim have been paid out.
