Spokane County new jobless claims drop to pre-pandemic low

New jobless claims in Spokane County continued to fall to pre-pandemic lows last week, according to data from the Washington state Employment Security Department.

Laid off workers in the county filed 294 claims in the week ending July 10, compared with 336 the week prior, the department reported Thursday.

For comparison, new jobless claims in the county totaled 466 the first week of March 2020, before the pandemic took hold in the state.

State jobless claims dropped to 5,488 in the week ending July 10, a 7.4% drop compared with 5,924 filed the week prior, according to the department.

Continued claims in all unemployment categories decreased 0.9% with 340,204 filed last week.