Claims for unemployment insurance increased in Whatcom County and Washington state during the week of December 27 to January 2 to nearly the same amount as the spike the week of November 16, when governor Jay Inslee ordered tighter restrictions statewide in order to reduce the spread of Covid-19.
While neither week resembles anywhere near the number of claims filed last spring when the governor’s shelter-in-place order went into effect, a regional economist said the recent jump in claims is likely due to seasonal effects.
According to data released by Washington’s Employment Security Department (ESD), 949 initial claims were filed in the county during the week of December 27 to January 2, whereas 646 claims were filed the week before. The ESD received 36 more initial claims the week of November 15 to 21, with 985.
Statewide, 29,651 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed with the ESD during the week of December 27 to January 2, which was an increase of 10,459 new claims from the previous week, when 19,192 claims were filed. The week Inslee announced his stricter statewide restrictions the ESD received 30,274 claims, 623 more than the most recent week.
“This really had more to do with the season, rather than Covid-19 restrictions,” said ESD regional labor economist Anneliese Vance-Sherman. “But the restrictions intensify the situation.”
Vance-Sherman said after the holidays is when the ESD tends to see many layoffs in industries with contractual work, like construction and the food industry. The department expects to see a spike in claims at the end of each year, she said.
While it is disconcerting to see a spike, Vance-Sherman said an expected seasonal rhythm is somewhat comforting for our current situation because some normality persists.
The industry sectors with the highest number of new claims statewide from December 27 to January 2 were specialty trade contractors (2,938 new claims), food services and drinking places (2,652 new claims) and administrative and support services (1,804 new claims). There were 5,717 initial claims filed statewide with an unknown industry sector.
In Whatcom County, the majority of new claims in the week ending on January 2 did not disclose an industry sector, a total of 356. Specialty trade contractors (127 new claims), food services and drinking places (91 new claims) and construction of buildings (66 new claims) were the industry sectors with most new claims filed.
“Whatcom County’s patterns have been very similar to what we’ve seen on the state level,” Vance-Sherman said.
Each week, both the state and county claims are about three times what they were in 2019. The last reporting week of 2019 saw 9,844 initial claims filed in the state, nearly one-third the amount seen in the week of December 27 to January 2. That same week, there were 283 claims filed in the county, almost 30 percent the amount filed in the comparable week in 2020.
Nationwide, in the week ending January 2, there were 922,072 initial claims filed, an increase of 77,400 – 9.2 percent – from the previous week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. An increase of 81,127 claims was expected because of seasonal factors. In the previous year, there were 335,480 initial claims filed in the comparable week.
Also in the week ending January 2, 45 states reported 161,460 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.
“When we are looking at initial claims, we are seeing, almost in real time, layoff activity,” Vance-Sherman said.
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