Unemployment claims soar in Washington as coronavirus takes economic toll
Washington saw a 150% increase in unemployment claims last week and expects an even bigger jump this week as the nation hurtles towards its first recession in more than 12 years.
Other indicators illustrate the sudden, dramatic spike in joblessness and concern that the situation will grow worse.
SharedWork, a program that employers can use to cut their staff’s hours while avoiding laying them off, has seen a more than 500% increase last week from its usual volume.
And the Esd.wa.gov website is exploding, with more than 500,000 users Monday and Tuesday, more than 10 times the normal volume. The agency also reported 19,250 calls Tuesday, up 827% from the previous Tuesday.
The data typically “provides an excellent picture of the health of the economy in Washington state,” said Employment Security Department Commissioner Suzi LeVine.
Some help is on the way from Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump Wednesday signed into law a stimulus package that includes $1 billion to help states with the sudden jump in jobless claims nationwide.
Claims jumped nationally last week, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday, to 281,000, up 70,000 from the previous week. The new figure was the highest since early September 2017.
“The increase in initial claims are clearly attributable to impacts from the COVID-19 virus,” a Labor Department statement said.
“A number of states specifically cited COVID-19 related layoffs, while many states reported increased layoffs in service related industries broadly and in the accommodation and food services industries specifically, as well as in the transportation and warehousing industry, whether COVID-19 was identified directly or not,” the department said.
Washington state is taking steps to deal with the volume. Gov. Jay Inslee Wednesday said the state would waive the usual one week waiting period for unemployment insurance benefits.
The state also is hiring more than 100 new staff for the UI program, extending service hours to seven days a week with extra hours and reassigning staff from other parts of the agency to the program.
The one bright spot is that Washington, D.C., has traditionally been quick to help Washington and is likely to do so again.
Boosting unemployment benefits, usually by extending the usual 26 weeks of benefits, is widely viewed as a useful way of easing the recession’s sting.
“It’s been shown to make a meaningful difference in the ability to put food on the table, pay utilities and housing,” said Andrew Stettner, senior fellow at the Century Foundation.
But more is going to be needed from Washington, said Karen Dynan, nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
“One billion dollars is a drop in the bucket by the standards of our unemployment insurance system. With no recession, we could have expected to pay out close to $30 billion in unemployment benefits this year,” she said.
She noted that in the last recession, “We saw government spending on unemployment benefits at levels several times the normal amount.”
Every recession since 1950 has seen additional federal benefits. The 2007-09 recession allowed up to 47 weeks of benefits through early 2014.
The federal stimulus legislation’s $1 billion provision has two parts.
It would allocate $500 billion nationwide for “immediate additional funding to all states for staffing, technology, systems, and other administrative costs, so long as they met basic requirements about ensuring access to earned benefits for eligible workers.”
Among the requirements are that workers have at least two ways, such as online and phone, to apply for benefits.
Another $500 million would be used for grants to states where unemployment has spiked at least 10%. Among the uses for that money would be temporarily easing eligibility requirements to make it easier for people affected by coronavirus outbreak to get help.
This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 9:56 AM with the headline "Unemployment claims soar in Washington as coronavirus takes economic toll."
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