Unemployment claims tick up in Clark County

Clark County’s unemployment insurance claims rose slightly last week compared with the week prior, and an increasingly larger portion of the lost jobs are in management positions.

“At first, the decline (in employment) was from restricted business activity overall: hairstylists, construction and restaurants,” said Scott Bailey, regional economist for Southwest Washington. “Now we’re seeing more white-collar occupations.”

Managers filed 1,902 claims last week, up from 850 the previous week. Sales managers accounted for 498 claims, while 235 claims were filed by general and operations managers and 168 were filed by marketing managers. The managers were spread across industries, Bailey said.

During the week ending on May 9, the weekly initial unemployment insurance claims rose to 4,905 in Clark County. Residents filed 4,842 claims in the previous week, according to the Employment Security Department.

Only 237 claims were filed in the same week last year.

“Right now, we know that a lot of small businesses don’t have huge cash levels to get through a prolonged period of low sales,” Bailey said. “It’s a matter of what kind of assistance are they able to tap into. It all depends on Congress.”

Statewide data for the week ending May 9 showed 109,425 initial unemployment claims — an increase of 8,663 from the previous week. Like Clark County, more managers and white-collar workers are filing for unemployment in the state.

In total, Washingtonians filed 1,301,564 claims last week in all unemployment benefit categories, according to the Employment Security Department.

The state has paid roughly $2.9 billion in benefits to 751,149 individuals who have filed an initial claim, according to a news release on Thursday.