Initial Claims

Initial claims for unemployment insurance in Spokane County have continued to be filed at close to 2,000 per week for the last two months. For the week ending July 25, 1,927 new initial claims were filed. Industries with the most new claims for the week were:

Continued Claims

Spokane County’s continued claims for unemployment have decreased 50% from the high point observed in mid-May, reaching 18,047 in the week ending July 25. This level of continuing unemployment claims appears to be a bit of a plateau with the current Safe Start restrictions in place. As the additional $600 per week in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance has now expired, we will carefully watch to see how many more unemployed workers attempt to re-enter the workforce in the coming weeks.

One point of concern is that younger workers are currently experiencing unemployment at much higher rates than their representation in the overall workforce. 42.4% of continued unemployment claims in the week ending July 25 were from workers aged 34 and younger, while that age group’s representation within the total Spokane workforce is only 36.1%. One explanation for this trend is that younger workers are more heavily concentrated in the occupations and industries that are most impacted by the pandemic closures (for example, accommodation and food service).

Since moving to remote services on March 17, our campus has served 14,296 job-seeking customers and 1,102 business customers. Below is a summary highlighting achievements of the past week. 

Talent Solutions

Our Talent Solutions Team continues to assist local employers with navigating remote hiring, promoting open positions and assisting with return-to-work resources. This past week, the team assisted 19 local employers during the statewide virtual Hire-A-Vet job fair, as well as assisted individual employers with virtual hiring events. Please visit their updated Immediate Employment Opportunities web page for information about open positions or worksourcespokane.com/employers for additional virtual tools and updates. 

WorkSource Spokane

The committed members of team WorkSource Spokane continue to expand virtual services and are finding creative ways for promoting their content and honing their craft virtually. Most recently, the team purchased a new virtual assessment tool to support job seekers, which will be available in the coming weeks. As always, career coaches are available by phone to assist anyone looking for work. Visit   worksourcespokane.com or call 509-532-3120. 

Next Generation Zone

The staff at the Next Generation Zone had another busy week. They had two more young adults begin internships and began checking out Chromebooks and Hotspots to customers, giving students access a complete technology package. They also created a survey that will be distributed beginning next week to identify new and unique education, training, and career challenges among 16- to 24-year-olds. Additionally, their Academic Life Coach created Part II of the Creating and Sustaining Boundaries video (click to view on Facebook).

Check out our Facebook page for the most current updates at facebook.com/NextGenZoneSpokane .

Spokane Resource Center

This past week continued to be exciting and busy at the SRC. The team continues to serve as resource experts for a wide variety of topics, including housing, healthcare access, technology access and more. Since receiving the news that the Spokane City Council awarded us $500,000 in rental assistance funding, SRC staff has worked tirelessly to stand up this program and this week began processing applications for the hundreds of interested customers who have called in. Please click here for more information . Their Apprenticeship Manager has also been busy promoting opportunities, including emailing 150 job seekers about an opening with the Cement Masons, and assisting the Associated General Contractors with raising awareness for the Head Start to Construction program.