New jobless claims in Washington jumped for the second straight week, but the increase likely reflects normal seasonal layoffs, not the recent surge in COVID cases.
Washingtonians filed 7,047 new, or "initial," claims for jobless benefits in the week ending Saturday, up 16.5% from the prior week, according to data posted Thursday by the state Employment Security Department.
The increase comes as claims fell nationally by 4%, to 198,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Despite the increase in new claims in Washington, the state remains well below the level from the same week in 2019.
Nationally, experts said rising COVID cases due to the omicron variant haven't been reflected significantly in new layoffs. ESD economist Doug Tweedy said Washington's increase in claims was likely fueled by normal seasonal layoffs. "Before the pandemic, we saw seasonal claims increase in November (and) December," he said.
Sectors that saw notable increases in claims are those that typically have layoffs this time of year. Claims filed by construction workers, for example, jumped nearly 24%.
The total number of people filing weekly unemployment claims fell 4.6%, to 47,569, which is also well below levels in pre-pandemic years.
