State unemployment claims drop by 10%

OLYMPIA — New unemployment claims dropped by 10% from the week before.

For July 18-24 the state Employment Security Department registered 4.554 new claims for unemployment payments. Compare to the same week in 2020, it’s down 84%.

Overall, 11,097 people are drawing from unemployment, which is down by 1.5% from the week earlier.

“The 4-week moving average for initial claims is at 5,257 … the 4-week moving average of initial claims pre-pandemic (was) 6,071 initial claims. That level represents the lowest levels of initial claims for regular benefits since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, and the seventh consecutive week initial claims have reached a new pandemic low,” stated a spokesperson.

Decreases in layoffs in construction, health care, and social assistance contributed to the decrease in initial claims last week.

For July 18-24 the state paid more than $189 million for 232,247 individual claims. Since the crisis began in March 2020, the state paid more than $20.2 billion in benefits to more than 1.1 million people.

A discarded cigarette tossed by a driver was found near the starting location of the fire, according to fire investigator Darren Jones, of WSU Fire Safety. He said the cigarette started a small grass fire and the wind carried embers about 40 feet to ignite the larger fire.