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

ESD reported a total of 19,476 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending February 20. Of this total, 14,043 initial claims were filed under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 2,277 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 3,156 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 an increase of 436 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. ESD notes:

Increases in layoffs in Construction, Agriculture and Accommodation & Food Services led the overall increase in regular initial claims last week. Regular initial claims in the Construction sector increased by 422 initial claims over the week to 2,766 total regular initial claims. Washington was one of 12 states that had increases in initial claims during the week ending Feb. 20.

The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 14,849, down 605 from the preceding week. I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 13,254 down from 13,346 (revised) the preceding week.

The number of initial claims under the two federal pandemic programs is a decrease of 752 from the number filed during the preceding week.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 442,742 in the most recent week. This is an increase of 15,122 from the number reported for the preceding week.

The ESD press release is here.