Washington's Unemployment department paying out record high benefits in response to Covid-19 shutdown but still struggling to keep up.

Washington State's Unemployment department put out a press release this morning showing its progress it getting State and Federal benfits into the hands of Washington (ex) Workers. Of 1.4+ million claims 545,178 individual have received benefits totaling 1.4 billion in benefits. 

The Release:

Unemployment claim type	For week of  April 26-May 2	For week of April 19-25
Regular Unemployment Insurance (UI) initial claims	100,762	137,605
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) initial claims	59,234	190,948
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) initial claims	40,267	168,165
Continued/ongoing weekly claims	885,768	959,190
Total claims	1,086,031	1,455,908

Since the week ending March 7 when COVID-19 job losses began:

• A total of 1,428,775 initial claims have been filed during the pandemic (959,196 regular unemployment insurance, 254,197 PUA and 215,382 PEUC)
• A total of 810,538 distinct individuals have filed for unemployment benefits
• ESD has paid out nearly $2.14 billion in benefits to Washingtonians
• 545,178 individuals who have filed an initial claim have been paid

“Since the COVID-19 crisis began in early March, Employment Security has sent $2.14 billion into the pockets of more than half a million Washingtonians,” said Employment Security Commissioner, Suzi LeVine. “This makes an enormous difference to those individuals and their families, and we are humbled to be able to provide these services in such a critical time. That said, there are approximately 57,000 who are waiting because there are issues with their claims we are working to resolve. Getting those Washingtonians their benefits is our agency’s top priority. We are doubling down on activities already underway to reach our goal of getting all of those claims in adjudication resolved or paid by June 15. We will be posting more information and details on our progress on our website in the coming days.”

See more stats here.

I'm worried about the unpaid claims and the large number of denied claims. I don't know what to say about that except hang in there keep applying, follow the instructions in any communication you get from the department. Reach out to the unemployment law project; here; if you have been denied, and keep job searching:  Wa State jobs.