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.