National employment increased by 2.5 million in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday. With that gain, the national unemployment rate dropped to 13.3 percent (from 14.7 percent in April). The increase in jobs was unexpected—many economists were estimating further declines. Although this is a positive sign, 13.3 percent unemployment is still the second-highest rate going back to 1948. The New York Times ran a good chart showing the cumulative change in jobs since Sept. 2010:

The Employment Security Department will release the state employment report for May on June 17. That’s the same day the state revenue forecast will be adopted.

Last week, the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council presented the June economic forecast, which will feed into the revenue forecast. As Kriss notes, the forecast assumes that employment in Washington will be below the level of the first quarter of 2020 until 2023.

Initial and continuing claims for unemployment insurance in Washington during the week of May 24 declined from the previous week. But, as Kriss’s chart shows, claims are still substantially higher than they were during the Great Recession:

Kriss shows how the claims are distributed across sectors here.

Trade data is also showing the effects of the downturn.

Meanwhile, Congress passed (and the president signed) a bill that makes the paycheck protection program more flexible. Through May 30, 92,627 loans had been made to Washington businesses.

And new guidance from the U.S. Department of the Treasury suggests that the state should distribute more of its $2.167 billion share of federal relief funds to local governments.