WA Unemployment Claims Now Half Of Mid-May Peak
WASHINGTON — Unemployment claims have taken a significant drop in Washington as more counties move forward and cautiously reopen businesses.
According to the Employment Security Department, or ESD, 774,959 total unemployment claims were filed for the week of May 24 through 30. That would be a massive number of claims for a normal year, but in the pandemic it's a big step in the right direction, less than half of the 1,670,580 claims filed just two weeks before.
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The ESD is contributing the ongoing dip in unemployment claims in part to their efforts to root out fraudsters from the unemployment system. On May 21, state officials confirmed that an international fraud ring had stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from the unemployment system by filing claims using stolen identities. In response, the department halted all payments for several days to re-evaluate all claims and install new safeguards, which they say has led to a dip in claims.
Since the fraud was discovered, the state has recovered more than $300 million of the money lost to scammers.
“The dramatic decline in initial claims this week is a strong signal that the additional steps we are taking to address imposter fraud are working," said ESD Commissioner Suzi LeVine. "We’ve already recovered and stopped the payments of hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent claims in the past two weeks, and we will continue to reclaim every dollar we can.”
Another factor could be that many jobs are returning as counties across the state begin to reopen. Currently, 27 of Washington's 39 counties have entered Phase 2 of Gov. Inslee's Safe Start plan, which allows a variety of industries to reopen, including restaurants, bars, retailers, and manufacturers. Six counties have already applied to enter Phase 3, which allows for even more businesses to return.
The latest unemployment data from the ESD can be broken down as:
Claims filed in Washington from May 24-30
Regular Unemployment Insurance (Initial claims) | 31,224 |
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (Initial claims) | 12,878 |
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (Initial claims) | 10,171 |
Continued/Ongoing Weekly Claims | 720,681 |
Total Claims Filed Last Week | 774,959 |
The numbers also mark the lowest number of new unemployment claims since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
Breaking down the data by job also helps show which industries are recovering. Filings from former managers dropped 62 percent last week. Those in sales positions also filed 31 percent fewer claims, and office workers filed 24 percent fewer unemployment claims as well.
Though Washington's biggest counties all remain in Phase 1 of the Safe Start plan, they too have seen significant improvement. King County saw unemployment claims drop 38 percent over the last week, Pierce saw a decline of 36 percent and Snohomish County had 39 percent less unemployment claims.
[NORECIRC]
This article originally appeared on the Seattle Patch
