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Nationwide, 3,169,000 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 3,169,000 last week. This is 677,000 less than the (downwardly revised) number of claims for the previous week, 3,846,000. The 4-week moving average of seasonally adjusted claims was 4,173,500, up […]

How Pierce County will use its federal aid funds

Pierce County is one of five local governments in Washington that was eligible for direct federal relief funds under the CARES Act, and it received about $158 million. The Pierce County Council has decided to use the funds for these purposes: $67 million for public health emergency response (including testing, virus surveillance, contact tracing, quarantine […]

Very early, unofficial estimate puts the revenue loss for the current biennium at $3.8 billion

Rachel La Corte of the AP reports that Economic and Revenue Forecast Council (ERFC) staff provided the ERFC an unofficial revenue forecast last week. (There was no mention of this at the budget outlook adoption meeting.) The estimate is very preliminary, but it provides an early indication of the sorts of numbers we could see […]

Recapping last week: UI, state response

Initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) increased to 496,718 in last week’s report (covering the week of April 19–25). This was the first week in which people who are not typically eligible for UI (like independent contractors) were able to apply for benefits, pursuant to federal COVID-19 relief bills. But initial UI claims under the […]

Initial claims by sector

Here are three charts showing initial claims for unemployment insurance in Washington state by sector for the period from March 1 to April 25. The first chart shows the number of claims by sector. The five sectors with the greatest number of claims are, in descending order, accommodation and food services; health services and social […]

In Washington 496,718 filed for unemployment insurance last week

This morning the state Employment Security Department (ESD) gave its weekly report on unemployment insurance claims. This is the first report to include claims under the special federal programs related to the COVID–19 pandemic. ESD reported a total of 496,718 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the April 19–April 25 week. Of this total, 137,605 […]

Nationwide, 3,839,000 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 3,839,000 last week. This is 603,000 less than the (downwardly revised) number of claims for the previous week, 4,442,000. The 4-week moving average of seasonally adjusted claims was 5,033,250, up […]

Food supply worries and hopes

Bloomberg reports, President Donald Trump plans to order meat-processing plants to remain open as the nation confronts growing food-supply disruptions from the coronavirus outbreak, a person familiar with the matter said. Trump plans to use the Defense Production Act to order the companies to stay open as critical infrastructure, and the government will provide additional […]

Washington will give $300 million of federal relief funds to localities (and other federal allocations have been announced)

The CARES Act provided $2.953 billion for Washington and the counties and cities in our state that have populations over 500,000. (The table provides an estimate of how the funds will be allocated.) The funds must be used for new spending related to COVID-19 response. (Treasury has allowed some flexibility in the use of the […]

Recapping last week: UI, federal aid, construction

Although initial unemployment insurance (UI) claims for the week of April 12–18 dropped in last week’s report from the Employment Security Department (ESD), they were still the fifth-highest in state history. Continuing claims increased to 523,126. Since March 1, arts, entertainment and recreation; construction; and accommodation and food services are still the sectors with the […]