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

ESD reported a total of 43,057 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending November 21. Of this total, 30,274 initial claims were under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 4,396 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 8,387 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 13,437 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. ESD notes:

The largest increase by occupation occurred in food preparation and serving (+7,954 over the week). This is likely attributed to the COVID-19 public health restrictions recently put in place.

The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 21,748, up 4,016 from the preceding week. I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 17,649, down from 19,110 (revised) the preceding week.

The number of initial claims under the two pandemic programs is an increase of 13,254 from the number filed during 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 421,827 in the most recent week. This is an increase of 14,076 from the number reported for the preceding week.

The ESD press release is here.