Oregon vs Washington ESD unemployment timelines - stuck in pending status

Washington and Oregon definitely have different processing timelines. In Washington, 3-5 weeks in pending status is unfortunately pretty normal these days, even for straightforward claims where the employer isn't contesting. Oregon's system has been more efficient since their tech upgrade last year. If your claim needs adjudication for any reason in WA (even minor discrepancies), it can take 6-8 weeks. Have you checked your ESD account to see if it shows any issues that need to be resolved?

OMG the wait times are sooooo different!!! i moved from OR to WA last year and was shocked. took like 6 weeks for me to get my first payment in WA when my retail job cut my hours. oregon was way faster, like 10 days maybe?? good luck getting thru to anyone at esd on the phone too, i tried for 2 weeks straight and kept getting disconnected!

I've worked with claimants in both states. Here's the key difference: Washington ESD has a more complex initial review process than Oregon, especially since 2025 when they implemented their new fraud detection system. Your pending status without flagged issues is actually a good sign - it likely means you're just in the standard queue. One important thing: make sure you're still filing your weekly claims even while in pending status. When your claim is approved, you'll receive all back payments for properly filed weeks. Also, double-check that you've completed your job search activities (3 per week in WA vs Oregon's 5).

When I moved from Oregon to Washington in 2023, I had the exact same experience. My Oregon claim was processed in about 8 days, but my Washington claim took 5 weeks to move from pending to approved. And this was with zero issues on my account! Just how ESD operates unfortunately. The backlog has been bad ever since covid and they never caught up properly.

my cousins boyfriend works for oregon unemployment and he said washington is like the slowest state in the whole northwest for processing times lol. something about their computer system being really outdated?? i dunno exactly but everyone i know who's filed in WA has waited FOREVER

I had a similar experience moving from OR to WA about 6 months ago. After waiting 4 weeks with my claim stuck in pending, I finally managed to get through to an ESD agent who found a small discrepancy in my work history that was holding things up - something that would have been auto-cleared in Oregon's system. I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through on the phone instead of wasting days getting busy signals. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3. Worth it to me because once I actually spoke to someone, they fixed my issue that same day and payments started the following week.

The real problem is that ESD is STILL operating like it's 2010! Oregon upgraded their system years ago but Washington keeps patching together their dinosaur of a system. No wonder it takes 5x longer to process anything. And their job search requirements make zero sense - why 3 activities instead of something logical like 2 or 5?? The whole system is designed to be frustrating enough that people give up.

Thanks everyone for the input! Sounds like I just need to be patient and keep filing my weekly claims. I'll try that Claimyr service if I hit the one-month mark with no movement. Really helpful to know this is normal for Washington and not something specific to my claim. I'll update here when something changes in case it helps others in the same situation.

I'm in a very similar situation - moved from Oregon to Washington a few months ago and was shocked by the difference in processing times! Oregon was always so quick and their online system was much more user-friendly. Washington's ESD feels like stepping back in time. I'm currently waiting on a claim that's been pending for 4 weeks now, which would have been resolved in under 2 weeks back in Oregon. The lack of real-time updates or clear communication about what's happening is the most frustrating part. At least in Oregon you could see if your claim was moving through different stages of review. Here it's just "pending" until one day it magically isn't. Hang in there - from what I've heard from others, most claims do eventually get processed, it just takes forever!