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A record 90,331 people applied for regular unemployment benefits in December 2008, an increase of about 75 percent over December 2007. Nearly 130,000 Washingtonians currently are receiving unemployment benefits, about 92 percent more than a year ago.Lee said there are some things claimants can do to avoid delays and reduce the number of phone calls:
1) File your initial unemployment claim online atwww.esd.wa.gov. Most people with employment only in Washington within the past two years should be able to use this method.
2) When calling the hotline (800-318-6022), use a landline rather than a cell phone, because there will usually be a wait time that could use up cell-phone minutes. And don't hang up and redial, because it puts the caller back at the end of the line.
3) Provide complete and accurate information in your application, including your Social Security number; the name and address of all of your employers during the last two years, regardless of how long you worked there; the dates you worked for all of your employers during the last two years; and the reason you became unemployed.
4) File weekly claims on Monday through Thursday, avoiding the Sunday rush that sometimes clogs the automated phone system. Weekly claims also may be filed online at esd.wa.gov for most individuals who have had only one employer in the past two years.
5) Use the automated features on the phone system (800-318-6022) on Monday through Thursday evenings for many routine matters, after the "live" calls are done for the day. Claimants can file a weekly claim (option 1), reopen an existing claim (option 2), find out if their check was processed (option 3), provide an address change (option 4), and obtain information about a benefit overpayment (option 6) without speaking to a live agent.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- New jobless claims jumped far more than expected last week in an already dismal labor market, and there's no relief in sight for workers as mass layoffs persist.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of laid-off workers seeking jobless benefits rose last week to a seasonally adjusted 626,000, from the previous week's upwardly revised figure of 591,000. The latest total is far more than analysts' expectations of 583,000.
That's also the highest since October 1982, when the economy was in a steep recession, though the work force has grown by about half since then.
The number of people that remained on the unemployment compensation rolls increased slightly to nearly 4.8 million, the most since records began in 1967.
Nonfarm private employment decreased 522,000 from December 2008 to January 2009 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the ADP National Employment Report®. The estimated change of employment from November to December 2008 was revised up by 34,000, from a decline of 693,000 to a decline of 659,000.
January’s ADP Report estimates nonfarm private employment in the service-providing sector fell by 279,000. Employment in the goods-producing sector declined 243,000, the twenty-fourth consecutive monthly decline. Employment in the manufacturing sector declined 160,000, its twenty-eighth decline over the last twenty-nine months.
