Weekly jobless claims in Spokane County drop to pre-pandemic level

Weekly jobless claims in Spokane County last week dropped to a pre-pandemic level, according to data from the Washington state Employment Security Department. 

Laid-off workers in the county filed 293 new claims during the week ending Sept. 11, a 12% decrease compared with 333 claims filed the week before, the department reported Thursday.

For comparison, the county’s jobless claims dropped to the lowest level since August 2019 with 259 claims filed during the week ending July 24. 

New unemployment claims in the state dropped to 4,860 in the week ending Sept. 11, a 6.6% decrease in applications compared with 5,205 from the week before, according to the ESD.

The drop in new unemployment claims coincided with the Sept. 4 expiration of federal pandemic benefit programs that provided an additional $300 a week in benefits.

Continued claims in all unemployment categories declined 4.8%, with 245,345 applications filed last week.

Fewer layoffs in construction, health care and social assistance sectors contributed to a decrease of 345 new claims in the week ending Sept. 11, compared with the week before.

This story was updated Sept. 17 to reflect weekly jobless claims in the county reached a pandemic-era low in July. 

Amy Edelen can be reached at (509) 459-5581 or at amye@spokesman.com.