New jobless claims continue decline in Spokane County

The number of new weekly jobless claims in Spokane County dropped for the second consecutive week, according to the Washington state Employment Security Department.

Laid-off workers in Spokane County filed 629 new unemployment claims the week ending May 29, a drop of 23% from the 774 claims filed the week before, the department reported Thursday.

New unemployment claims in the state fell to 10,085 in the week ending May 29, a 13.6% drop compared with 11,666 claims the week before.

A reduction in layoffs in educational services, retail trade, and health care and social assistance sectors contributed to the decrease in new claims last week, according to the ESD.

Continued claims in all unemployment categories dropped 8.4%, with 381,640 applications filed last week.