Spokane County’s weekly jobless claims are hitting the bottom of the pandemic era

Spokane County’s weekly jobless claims fell to the bottom of the pandemic era last week, according to data from the Washington State Department of Occupational Safety and Health.

Lay-off workers in the county filed 247 new applications in the week ended October 2, a 13.9% decrease from 287 applications filed the week before, the department reported Thursday.

As of last week, the pandemic-era low was 259 for the week that ended July 24th.

New jobless claims in the state fell 2% to 4,814 in the week ending October 2, compared to 4,914 the previous week, according to ESD.

The continued applications in all unemployment categories decreased by 10.8% compared to the previous week, with 86,615 applications being submitted in the past week, according to ESD.

ESD paid more than $ 35 million in benefits last week.

Although the federal pandemic unemployment benefit programs expired on September 4, benefits will continue to be paid for applicants whose claims are pending in a judgment or appeals process if they are classified as eligible according to the ESD.