This morning the state Employment Security Department (ESD) gave its weekly report on unemployment insurance claims.

ESD reported a total of 13,879 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending May 29. Of this total, 10,085 initial claims were filed under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 1,647 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 2,147 claims were filed under the federal pandemic unemployment compensation program, which adds 13 weeks to the maximum term of benefits.

The number of new claims for regular unemployment insurance is a decrease of 1,581 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. ESD notes:

Decreases in layoffs in Educational Services, Retail trade and Health Care and Social Assistance contributed to the decrease in regular initial claims last week.

The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 14,494, down 106 from the preceding week. The 4-week average continues to be inflated by the fraudulent claims file during the weeks ending May 2 and May 9. (See this Seattle Times article.) I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 17,464, up from 17,280 (revised) the preceding week.

The number of initial claims under the two federal pandemic programs is a decrease of 477 from the number filed during the preceding week.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 367,761 in the most recent week. This is 32,764 less than the number reported last week.

The ESD press releases are posted here.