Initial unemployment claims in Clark County rise slightly

Clark County’s initial regular unemployment insurance claims increased last week from 1,385 to 1,425, up 3 percent from the week before.

While that wasn’t a big jump, another number suggests that the local economy is heading in the right direction: Continued unemployment insurance claims fell by 13.8 percent, from 21,495 to 18,513, according to the Washington Employment Security Department.

Scott Bailey, regional economist for Southwest Washington, said some of the decrease in continued claims was a result of the county entering Phase 2 of reopening on Friday.

People stopped filing continued claims last week across a broad base of industries, Bailey said. Health care dropped by 490 claims, the biggest decline. Retail went down by 267 claims. Arts, entertainment and recreation, which includes casinos, declined by 258 claims, and food services fell by 240 claims, according to Bailey.

Clark County’s slight increase in initial claims made it an outlier in the state. As a whole, Washington reported a 4.8 percent decrease in initial claims. That was partly aided by the state’s crackdown on fraudulent claims but also by more counties reopening.

“We continue to see a decline in initial claims, which is expected as the economy starts to reopen,” ESD Commissioner Suzi LeVine said in a news release.

The number of continued claims also decreased statewide last week, dropping from 720,681 to 680,116, which is a 5.6 percent drop.

The Employment Security Department paid over $545.3 million to 420,772 individual claims in the week of May 31 through June 6, according to a news release from the department.