Washington’s jobless claims jump more than ninefold as coronavirus hammers economy

More than 133,000 Washington residents filed for jobless benefits last week — a jump of more than ninefold from a week earlier, and the largest spike since the Great Depression–as government efforts to halt the coronavirus outbreak continued to slow the state’s economy.

For the week ending March 21, the state received 133,464, claims for unemployment insurance benefits, up from 14,154 the week before, according to newly released data from the state employment security department.