The county’s barometer for a recovering labor market, continued unemployment claims, continued a downward trend last week but still remained at a high number.
Total unemployment insurance claims fell to 13,010 during the week ending June 26. Regular continued claims are seeing a weekslong resurgence, increasing from 2,381 two weeks ago to 2,630 last week to 2,909 claims in the latest week.
The number of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claimants showed little change. After hovering around 6,200 for 10 weeks, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation fell by over 1,000 over the past two weeks, according to Scott Bailey, the Employment Security Department’s regional economist for Southwest Washington.
Most industries had a decline in claims over the past two weeks, but in some industries, like accommodations and food services, there was quite a bit of churn, with an increase in shorter-term unemployment and a decrease in longer-term unemployment, Bailey wrote in an email to The Columbian.
Unemployed people tended to be disproportionately women and workers of color, along with workers who have less education.
Last week, 3.5 percent of claimants were African American, who constitute 1.9 percent of the labor force in Clark County. About 1.1 percent were Indigenous claimants, who make up 0.6 percent of the labor force. Women accounted for 54 percent of the claimants, although they are 46 percent of the labor force, according to Bailey.
Claimants also are disproportionately workers with less formal education: Just over 33 percent had only a high school education or GED, although they make up 25 percent of the labor force. On the other hand, just 17 percent of claimants have a bachelor’s degree or higher, but represent 34 percent of the labor force, according to Bailey.
Statewide, total claims for all unemployment claims categories were down 1.6 percent last week from the prior week, according to the Employment Security Department. Initial regular claims are 76 percent below what they were at the start of the pandemic.
