Unemployment claims continue to drop in the state, Spokane County

Thomas Clouse, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
·2 min read

Mar. 12—Signs of an economic rebound continued this week as fewer workers in Spokane County and Washington state filed for initial unemployment claims while the number of people with existing benefits declined .

The week of Feb.28-March 6, 11,760 workers filed for initial jobless benefits in Washington. That number was down 9.2% from the prior week.

Existing claims dropped 1.3% to 453,503 , according to statistics released Thursday by the Washington state Employee Security Department.

Numbers were similar for Spokane County. Continued claims for the week came in at 7,415, which was down about 500 from the previous week.

"We've been dropping about 500 every week since Jan. 23, which was our high point," said Doug Tweedy, regional economist for the ESD.

Initial claims for Spokane County for the week were 814.

"Historically that's high," Tweedy said. "But for this year, it's one of the lowest initial claims we've had since October."

Despite the week-over-week drops, unemployment claims remain about 79% above what they were at this time in 2020, which marked the beginning of the pandemic's impact on the regional economy.

With winter coming to an end, decreases in construction layoffs fueled the overall decrease in initial claims last week, according to the ESD. Initial claims in the construction sector decreased by 686 claims over the previous week.

Tweedy said he remains cautiously optimistic that the state and local economies will continue to improve.

"Even with the high numbers on unemployment insurance, we are seeing businesses that are starting to come back and starting to rehire," he said.

While the numbers have improved for full-time workers, the region and state still present challenges for those workers who traditionally were not eligible for unemployment benefits. They include contractors and part-time workers that became eligible for benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program.

"We are not seeing those workers shed off that program like we are with regular programs," Tweedy said. "I think that goes back to the hardest hit industries. A lot of those workers were part-timers ... in the accommodation and food services and leisure and hospitality industries."