Nationwide, 2,123,000 filed for unemployment insurance last week
The U.S. Department of Labor issued its weekly report on initial claims for unemployment insurance this morning. Nationwide, the number of seasonally adjusted claims was 2,123,000 last week. This is 323,000 less than the (downwardly revised) number of claims for the previous week, 2,446,000. The 4-week moving average of seasonally adjusted claims was 2,608,000 down […]
27th of May 2020
Special session considerations
Although it is clear that state revenues will be revised downward in the June forecast, it is less clear when a special session of the Legislature might be convened to work on the problem. As Austin Jenkins of the Northwest News Network reports, some legislators are arguing for a special session in June (to get […]
26th of May 2020
Recapping last week: 15.4 percent unemployed, increased UI claims, and fraud
Washington lost 527,000 net jobs from March to April. The state’s unemployment rate in April was 15.4 percent (up from 5.1 percent in March). Kriss expects that next month’s monthly employment report (covering May employment) will show another drop in jobs. Nationwide, initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) were down for the week ending May […]
22nd of May 2020
More on unemployment insurance imposter fraud
The Seattle Times has a front page article today on the rash of fraudulent claims that has plagued the state Employment Security Department in recent weeks: Washington state officials have acknowledged the loss of “hundreds of millions of dollars” to an international fraud scheme that hammered the state’s unemployment insurance system and could mean even […]
21st of May 2020
Initial claims by sector
Here are three charts presentinginitial claims for unemployment insurance reported by Washington state’s Employment Security Department (ESD) by sector for the period from March 1 to May 16. A note of caution about these numbers: In recent weeks, Washington’s unemployment insurance system has been hit by a rash of fraudulent claims (press releases here and […]
In Washington 259,688 filed initial claims for unemployment insurance last week
This morning the state Employment Security Department (ESD) gave its weekly report on unemployment insurance claims. ESD reported a total of 259,688 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the May 10–May 16 week. Of this total, 138,733 initial claims were under the regular unemployment insurance program; 61,325 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance […]
Nationwide, 2,438,000 filed for unemployment insurance last week
The U.S. Department of Labor issued its weekly report on initial claims for unemployment insurance this morning. Nationwide, the number of seasonally adjusted claims was 2,438,000 last week. This is 249,000 less than the (downwardly revised) number of claims for the previous week, 2,687,000. The 4-week moving average of seasonally adjusted claims was 3,042,000, down […]
20th of May 2020
Monthly Employment Report
The state Employment Security Department released its Monthly Employment Report for April this morning. According to preliminary estimates from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the state lost 527,000 jobs, net, seasonally adjusted (SA), from March to April. This estimate is based on BLS’s monthly survey of employers, which counts as employed all persons […]
18th of May 2020
Recapping last week: Collections report, UI, federal relief
State general fund revenues are $434.6 million (22.5 percent) less than forecast in February, according to the May collections report. About $200 million of this drop is due to deferrals of tax payments, which are expected to be collected before July. This is the first revenue data we have that includes effects of the downturn. […]
15th of May 2020
May report of state tax collections
The state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council (ERFC) released its May report on state general fund revenue collections today. This is the first collections report to show the effect of COVID-19 on state revenues. For the sales tax, the use tax, the business and occupation tax, the public utility tax, the tobacco products tax, and […]