OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington’s total unemployment claims saw a decrease of more than 150,000 this past week, something the Employment Security Department says is a result of fraud prevention measures and more people returning to work as the state continues reopening in phases.
During the week of May 24-30, the ESD said there were 31,224 initial regular unemployment claims (down 36% from previous week) and 774,959 total claims for all unemployment benefit categories (a decrease of 155,423) filed by Washingtonians.
More than $514.7 million was paid out by the ESD for 400,352 individual claims.
“The dramatic decline in initial claims this week is a strong signal that the additional steps we are taking to address imposter fraud are working. We’ve already recovered and stopped the payments of hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent claims in the past two weeks, and we will continue to reclaim every dollar we can,” said ESD Commissioner Suzi LeVine. ”Our priorities from day one of this crisis have been to get benefits out to Washingtonians who need them quickly and expand eligibility so those impacted can get the help they need, and we are continuing to ramp up our staffing to work through the large numbers of applicants and adjudications. We know every day matters for people awaiting their benefits. We are committed to processing those claims as quickly as possible.”
Initial claims have trended downward significantly, with more than 100,000 initial claims submitted in all but one week from March 21-May 16. The previous two weeks, there have been less than 50,000 initial claims. The total number of unemployment claims paid has also seen a decrease significantly in the previous two weeks.
Since the week ending March 7 when COVID-19 related job losses began ESD says:
A total of 2,045,863 initial claims have been filed during the pandemic (1,280,711 regular unemployment insurance, 409,566 PUA, and 355,523 PEUC)A total of 1,152,516 distinct individuals have filed for unemployment benefits ESD has paid out over $4.9 billion in benefits826,123 individuals who have filed an initial claim have been paid.
