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Congress approves changes to paycheck protection program

Last night the U.S. Senate approved H.R. 7010. The bill was passed by the House last week. If signed by the president, it will make the paycheck protection program more flexible. For the loans to be forgiven, businesses will have 24 weeks to spend loan funds (instead of eight); 60 percent (instead of 75 percent) […]

Nationwide, 1,877,000 filed for unemployment insurance last week

The U.S. Department of Labor issued its weekly report on initial claims for unemployment insurance this morning. Nationwide, the number of seasonally adjusted claims was 1,877,000 last week. This is 249,000 less than the (upwardly revised) number of claims for the previous week, 2,126,000. The 4-week moving average of seasonally adjusted claims was 2,284,000, up […]

Economic and Revenue Forecast Council issues preliminary economic forecast

The state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council presented the preliminary version of its June economic forecast of the state economy today. A revised version of this economic forecast will form the basis for the ERFC’s June forecast of state revenues, which will be released on June 17. ERFC Executive Director and Chief Economist Steve Lerch […]

92,627 paycheck protection loans have been approved for Washington businesses, and a bill is moving through Congress to increase flexibility for the program

According to the Small Business Administration, 92,627 loans have been made to Washington businesses under both rounds of the paycheck protection program. (The numbers are through May 30.) Altogether, $12.014 billion has been approved for Washington businesses (this figure was revised down since the May 8 report). Currently, the loans are forgivable if businesses do […]

Recapping last week: Special session timing, budget cuts, UI claims

Although the official state revenue forecast won’t be adopted until June 17, we know that the state is facing a shortfall. It’s still unclear when a special session of the Legislature might be convened to address it. Senate Republicans have argued for a June session and provided a list of their goals. The Seattle Times […]

Initial claims by sector

Here are four charts presenting initial claims for unemployment insurance reported by Washington state’s Employment Security Department (ESD) by sector for the period from March 1 to May 16. A note of caution about these numbers: In recent weeks, Washington’s unemployment insurance system has been hit by a rash of fraudulent claims (press releases here […]

In Washington 88,806 filed initial claims for unemployment insurance last week

This morning the state Employment Security Department (ESD) gave its weekly report on unemployment insurance claims. A note of caution about these numbers: In recent weeks, Washington’s unemployment insurance system has been hit by a rash of fraudulent claims (press releases here and here). As a result, the unemployment insurance claims data released weekly by […]

Nationwide, 2,123,000 filed for unemployment insurance last week

The U.S. Department of Labor issued its weekly report on initial claims for unemployment insurance this morning. Nationwide, the number of seasonally adjusted claims was 2,123,000 last week. This is 323,000 less than the (downwardly revised) number of claims for the previous week, 2,446,000. The 4-week moving average of seasonally adjusted claims was 2,608,000 down […]

Recapping last week: 15.4 percent unemployed, increased UI claims, and fraud

Washington lost 527,000 net jobs from March to April. The state’s unemployment rate in April was 15.4 percent (up from 5.1 percent in March). Kriss expects that next month’s monthly employment report (covering May employment) will show another drop in jobs. Nationwide, initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) were down for the week ending May […]

More on unemployment insurance imposter fraud

The Seattle Times has a front page article today on the rash of fraudulent claims that has plagued the state Employment Security Department in recent weeks: Washington state officials have acknowledged the loss of “hundreds of millions of dollars” to an international fraud scheme that hammered the state’s unemployment insurance system and could mean even […]