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

ESD reported a total of 15,937 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending May 22. Of this total, 11,666 initial claims were filed under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 1,778 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 2,493 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 7,953 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. Last week’s number was inflated by fraudulent claims (see this Seattle Times article). Besides the decrease in fraudulent claims, ESD notes:

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

The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 14,599, up 9 from the preceding week. I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 17,279, up from 17,058 the preceding week.

The number of initial claims under the two federal pandemic programs is a decrease of 1,356 from the number filed during the preceding week.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 416,462 in the most recent week. This is 43,327 less than the number reported last week.

The ESD press release is posted here.