New jobless claims in the state, county declined last week

The number of laid-off workers filing initial jobless claims in the state dropped last week, marking the fifth consecutive week of declining new benefit applications, according the Washington State Employment Security Department.

Laid-off workers in the state filed 21,942 new jobless claims Aug. 9-15, a 0.9% drop compared with 22,140 new claims filed a week prior, the department reported Thursday.

Nearly 556,669 workers filed continued jobless claims last week, according to the department.

The accommodation and food services sector saw the greatest number of new claims last week with 2,499, an increase of 12% over the previous week. Manufacturing workers filed 2,264 new claims. Health care and social assistance workers filed 2,031 claims, according to the department.

More than 2.4 million people have filed initial unemployment claims and the department has paid out $9.7 billion in benefits since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in the state in March.

In Spokane County, laid-off workers filed 1,243 new unemployment claims in the week ending Aug. 15, a 3% decrease compared with 1,283 claims filed the week prior, according to the employment security department.

Workers in the county have filed a total of 99,837 initial jobless claims since mid-March.

Idaho up 12%Idaho jobless claims continued an upward trend for the week ending Aug. 15, rising 12% from a week prior, according to the Idaho Department of Labor.

Laid-off workers in Idaho filed 3,644 new claims last week, the department said Thursday.

Health care and social assistance, manufacturing, retail, construction, administration and support services, and accommodation and food services represented 67% of new claims filed last week.