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

ESD reported a total of 28,858 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending October 3. Of this total, 15,496 initial claims were under the regular unemployment insurance program; 54,151 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 9,211 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 a decrease of 2,209 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 17,802, down 1,128 from the preceding week. Regular claims remain well above the peak reached during the Great Recession.

The number of initial claims under the two pandemic programs is an increase of 29 from the number filed during the preceding week.

We estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 24,765, down from 27,247 (revised) the preceding week.

(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.)

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 477,850 in the most recent week. This is a decrease of 21,447 from the number reported for the preceding week.

The ESD press release is here.