Washington's Unemployment Backlog To Be Cleared By Friday

SEATTLE, WA — State leaders say that Washington's unemployment backlog will be cleared by the end of the day Friday, fulfilling a promise made by the Employment Security Department to have the backlog sorted by the end of July.

Since the pandemic began and the first wave of job losses hit in early March, Washington state has been slammed with a total 2,338,445 unemployment claims. That would be a big challenge for the Employment Security Department to handle even in ideal conditions, but was worsened significantly when an international fraud ring targeted Washington in late May, stealing hundreds of millions through bogus unemployment claims.

The ensuing fallout, attempts to recoup the money, the installation of new safeguards to prevent further fraud, and the continued influx of new claims all contributed to a massive backlog in case processing that grew to up to 81,000 cases in June.

Since then, the ESD has been working to process that backlog, cutting the number of unresolved claims to 35,000 in early July— and is now on track to have all claims resolved by the end of this week.

"As you know we have been working diligently in making every single effort we could possibly imagine to resolve the claims," said Gov. Jay Inslee at a news conference Thursday. "People in unemployment had been waiting, sometimes for months, it has been extremely frustrating."

"I'm very glad that this is going to meet the target. The job is getting done because we have hired hundreds of people to do it; we have engaged new technology and new systems and want to thank all the people including the National Guard who helped to clear the identification issue," said Inslee.

The National Guard was deployed to help the ESD process incoming unemployment claims in early June.

The good news is counterbalanced by some bad news for claimants: this week virtually all unemployment paychecks will be $600 lighter, as emergency unemployment funding from the federal government expired last Saturday.

"Unless Congress acts soon to extend or alter it, the loss of this additional benefit will create hardship for many individuals and families," said ESD Commissioner Suzi Levine. "While ESD administers this additional benefit, we do not have a say in whether it is extended. We are following the situation closely and will continue to update claimants if there are any changes."

At his conference Thursday, Inslee echoed Levine's comments in calling for congress to extend the benefits.

"It is a benefit for the whole economy, of our state and our nation, because those [unemployment applicants] are consumers, they want to pay their rent, and they want to help the wheels of commerce continue to turn," said Inslee.

As of the latest report from the ESD, on the week ending July 25 677,355 total unemployment claims were filed in the state of Washington: high for a normal year but a far cry from the 1,600,000+ claims filed in mid-May. To date 966,464 people who filed initial unemployment claims have been paid, and the state has distributed more than $8.7 billion in benefits.

Related:

Washington's Unemployed To Lose $600 In Benefits Starting July 25

Unemployment Claims Backlog To Be Resolved By End Of July: ESD