‘Mind boggling’: Last week’s WA jobless claims set record

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits in Washington set a new record last week, with tens of thousands more people in the state filing new claims as non-essential businesses remain closed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Numbers released Thursday by the state Employment Security Department showed that 181,975 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed with the state during the week of March 22-28, a 41% increase over the previous week’s earlier record of 128,962 new claims.

ESD Commissioner Suzi LeVine noted that last week’s number of claims is a 3,513% increase over the same week in 2019, calling it a “mind-boggling number.”