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

ESD reported a total of 35,809 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending November 7. Of this total, 25,201 initial claims were under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 2,768 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 7,840 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment compensation program, which extends the maximum term of benefits from 26 weeks to 39 weeks.

The number of new claims for regular unemployment insurance is an increase of 10,520 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. While this is a dramatic increase, I suspect that seasonal factors and week-to-week variability are at play here. The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 17,743, up 719 from the preceding week.

I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 19,700, down from 20,241 (revised) the preceding week. Seasonally adjusted regular claims remain above the peak reached during the Great Recession.

Note: In May, Washington’s unemployment insurance system was hit by a rash of fraudulent claims. Most of these false claims were filed between May 1 and May 16, which coincides with the second, lower peak during the current recession.

The number of initial claims under the two pandemic programs is an increase of 855 from the number filed during the preceding week.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 393,254 in the most recent week. This is a decrease of 47,875 from the number reported for the preceding week.

The ESD press release is here.