Unemployment claims spike statewide and locally, but unemployment rates trend down

Claims for unemployment insurance spiked significantly for the first time after declining trends since the beginning of the year in Whatcom County and Washington state. The uptick during the week of April 4 to April 10 is partially due to those who filed a year ago at the start of the pandemic needing to reapply, economists say.

According to data released by Washington’s Employment Security Department (ESD), 458 initial claims were filed in the county during the week of April 4 to April 10, whereas 325 claims were filed the week before. The last time ESD received this many claims from Whatcom County residents was the week of February 14-20 when 464 claims were filed.

Statewide, 17,281 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed during the week of April 4-10, which was an increase of 5,418 new claims from the previous week. ESD hasn’t received this many claims in one week since the week ending on January 16 when 19,212 claims were filed.

ESD regional labor economist Anneliese Vance-Sherman said the spike is mostly administrative. Anyone who applied for unemployment benefits a year ago when the ESD saw a record-breaking number of claims filed – one week at the end of March totaled nearly 182,000 statewide – must reapply after a year. “A lot of people have reached their limit,” she said.

Vance-Sherman added that this spike is likely not reflective of the market trend because some areas are progressing.

The unemployment rate in Whatcom County dropped to 6.7 percent in March, which had previously peaked at 18.4 percent in April 2020, Vance-Sherman said. Whatcom County also gained 1,100 jobs, with increases in most sectors.

Vance-Sherman said that although the unemployment rate dropped, 6,826 people left the workforce. This is a 5.8 percent decline from what was seen in March 2020 and plays a part in the unemployment rate recovery. “It’s good news and bad news,” she said. “Good news that the unemployment rate has dropped but bad news that people are leaving the workforce.”

The industry sectors with the highest number of new claims statewide from April 4 to April 10 were specialty trade contractors (1,183 new claims), food services and drinking places (855 new claims) and social assistance (522 new claims). There were 6,555 new claims filed with an unknown industry and 2,012 new claims where the industry was not disclosed.

In Whatcom County, the majority of new claims filed the past week, 334, did not disclose an industry sector. Specialty trade contractors (39 new claims), educational services (20 new claims) and construction of buildings (14 new claims) were the industry sectors with the most new claims filed.

Nationwide, in the week ending April 10, there were 576,000 initial claims filed, a decrease of 193,000 – 25 percent – from the previous week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020, when 256,000 were filed nationally.

Vance-Sherman said if the recent spike is tied to many who filed last year reapplying, she expects to see a wave of claims filed into May. But she said economists are still learning how use unemployment claims data as a market predicting resource. Typically, unemployment claims are a supplemental data source but this year they have become the primary data source, she said.