Continued jobless claims see slight drop in Clark County

Unemployment insurance claims in Clark County fell last week, but if annual seasonal trends hold, unemployment may not be done increasing just yet.

Continued unemployment insurance claims, a closely watched indicator in a recovering job market, fell by 1.7 percent last week, from 6,445 to 6,335.

“There’s not been a whole lot of change over last month except a jump in restaurant claims,” said Scott Bailey, regional economist for Southwest Washington. “The trend is going to wrestle between COVID-related impacts and seasonal impacts.”

Initial unemployment claims in Clark County fell last week to 885, a drop from 1,575 the week before. About half of the change came from the hospitality sector, which includes restaurants. Initial construction claims also dropped from 150 to 82 last week.

Extended benefits saw an uptick last week. Initial Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, or PEUC, claims rose from 240 to 246 last week, and initial Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, claims increased from 172 to 214.

Continued PUA claims rose from 4,878 to 4,955 last week, for an increase of 77 claims. Almost all were from food service and construction, Bailey said.

“We’re still waiting to see if Congress is going to act before the new year,” Bailey said. “PEUC and PUA expiries at end of the month.”

Many of the PEUC continued claimants will qualify for the state benefits program, which offers roughly the same benefits and lasts 13 weeks.

The state as a whole had 19,547 initial unemployment claims last week, a decrease of 20.5 percent from the prior week.