Despite Pandemic Restrictions, WA Unemployment Dipped Last Week

Charles Woodman
·2 min read

OLYMPIA, WA — In mid-November, amid a record-breaking surge in new coronavirus cases, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee issued a new suite of pandemic restrictions.

The restrictions severely limited capacity at retailers and grocery stories, banned indoor dining at restaurants and bars, and outright closed museums, gyms and several other industries.

Despite all those shutdowns however, data from the Employment Security Department shows that unemployment rates have remained relatively stable: they actually paid around 20,000 fewer unemployment claims in the last full week of November than they did the end of October.

That's not to say the restrictions had no impact: the week of Nov. 14 - 21 saw an 79.8 percent increase in unemployment claims over the previous week. The pandemic restrictions were announced on Nov. 15.

However, even though those restrictions remain in place, the following week saw all types of initial unemployment claims drop.

Employment Security Department
Employment Security Department

As the ESD explains:

"The drop in initial claims this week correlate to industries that saw the most significant increases in initial claims last week, when the impacts of the public health restrictions first appeared in the weekly data. This indicates those impacts have leveled out this week. "

It will take more time before the economic impacts of the restrictions is fully understood, but the latest data indicates it's nowhere near the first round of closures in spring.

Employment Security Department
Employment Security Department

In their latest report, the ESD highlighted several industries show the greatest improvement over the last week:

  • Accommodation and food services: 31 percent decrease in initial claims.

  • Retail and trade: 34 percent decrease in initial claims.

  • Health care and social assistance: 29 percent decrease in initial claims.

The state's most populous counties also saw significant improvement the week of Nov. 22-28. King County saw initial claims dip 20 percent from the week before. Meanwhile, Pierce and Snohomish counties each saw their initial regular claims decrease 25 percent over the last week.

Read the full report from the Employment Security Department.

This article originally appeared on the Lakewood-JBLM Patch