WA Unemployment Claims Spike Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

SEATTLE, WA — Unemployment claims are spiking in Washington as the state struggles to grapple with the coronavirus.

As the Seattle Times reports, more than 133,000 Washingtonians filed for unemployment benefits for the week ending March 21, up from just 14,154 the week before. Put another way, more than 9 times as many people applied for unemployment last week in Washington.

According to KOMO news, the hardest hit jobs have been in food service and accommodation, followed by health care, social services and retail. They report that Spokane County has seen the highest spike of unemployment claims statewide, with a jump of 1,826 percent in applicants. King County has also seen a jump of over 500 percent.

In a conference Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee noted that unemployment is growing 5 times faster than any time during the last great recession: "We have seen nothing like this in our state's history."

Nationwide the story is much the same, with almost 3.3 million people applying for unemployment benefits last week, per the Associated Press. That's almost five times the last unemployment record set back in 1982.

The spike in unemployment claims is causing major backup, both in Washington and nationwide. There have been numerous reports of people being unable to file or claim unemployment because state websites and phone lines have been overloaded by the flood of incoming claims. However, the Washington State Employment Security Department says it is well aware of the issue and doing everything it can to adapt, including hiring over 100 new staff members to field calls, posting clearer instructions about how to file for unemployment online, and expanding service hours to 7 days a week and with more hours per day.

Employment security has also put together a guide to help anyone applying for unemployment benefits during the coronavirus outbreak, as the rules have changed to help benefit the record number of employees losing their jobs.

Those changes include:

• Making benefits available to anyone laid off by Gov. Inslee's stay home order.
• Making work search requirements optional during the outbreak, meaning claimants no longer have to apply to 3 jobs each week to keep benefits active.
• Allowing applicants to request standby status for up to 12 weeks.
• And removing the one week waiting period before applicants can receive benefits.

For more information on unemployment changes during the outbreak, applicants can also subscribe to updates from the Employment Security Department.