During the week of July 26 through August 1, there were 24,985 initial regular unemployment claims (down 13.4% from the prior week) and 656,556 total claims for all unemployment benefit categories (down 3.1% from the prior week) filed by Washingtonians, according to the Employment Security Department (ESD).
- Initial regular claims applications remain at elevated levels and are at 346 percent above last year’s weekly new claims applications.
- Regular Unemployment Insurance, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) initial claims as well as continuing claims all decreased over the previous week.
ESD paid out over $575.5 million for 444,580 individual claims – an increase of $2.2 million and 2,394 more individuals compared to the prior week.
