What percentage was unemployment rate when filing Washington ESD claim?

You can find historical unemployment rates on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website. For Washington state in March 2024, I believe it was around 4.1% but you should double-check that. The Washington State Employment Security Department also publishes monthly labor market reports with these statistics.

I remember it being in the low 4% range during that time period. The unemployment rate had been dropping pretty steadily since the pandemic highs. Why do they need that specific information for a job application? That seems like an odd question.

If you need the exact number, I'd recommend calling Washington ESD directly. They should have the precise unemployment rate data for any given month. I used a service called Claimyr.com recently to get through to ESD when I couldn't reach them normally - they have this system that helps you actually connect with a real person instead of getting stuck in phone tree hell. There's a demo video at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ that shows how it works.

The Washington State Office of Financial Management also tracks unemployment data. Their website has historical employment statistics going back years. March 2024 unemployment rate for Washington was 4.0% if I remember correctly from when I was doing research for my thesis.

wait why would a job application ask about unemployment rates? that makes no sense to me. are you sure they're not asking about YOUR unemployment duration or benefit amount?

Just to clarify - are they asking for the seasonally adjusted rate or the raw rate? Those can be different numbers. The seasonally adjusted rate smooths out typical seasonal variations in employment. Most official statistics use the seasonally adjusted figure.

I work in HR and we sometimes ask weird questions on applications for compliance reasons or specific research projects. The unemployment rate question is probably tied to some federal reporting requirement they have to meet.

Going back to that Claimyr thing mentioned earlier - has anyone else used it? I'm desperate to reach someone at Washington ESD about my adjudication that's been pending for 6 weeks now. Regular calling isn't working.

For what it's worth, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has a really good database called FRED that has all kinds of economic data including unemployment rates by state. You can search for Washington unemployment rate and get historical data going back decades.

Why don't you just put 'approximately 4%' if you can't find the exact figure? Unless this is for something super official, a close estimate should be fine.

Update: I just checked the BLS website and Washington's unemployment rate in March 2024 was 4.1% (seasonally adjusted). You can verify this on their Local Area Unemployment Statistics page under Washington state data.

just curious but what kind of job asks about unemployment statistics on the application? seems like a weird screening question

For future reference, the Washington State Employment Security Department publishes a monthly Labor Area Summary that includes unemployment rates. These reports are available on their website going back several years.

Quick update on the Claimyr service - I tried it yesterday and actually got through to ESD within 2 hours. The agent was able to see that my adjudication was waiting for employer response and gave me a timeline. First real information I've gotten in weeks!

The unemployment rate can vary depending on whether you're looking at total unemployment or just insured unemployment. Total unemployment includes everyone looking for work, while insured unemployment only counts people receiving UI benefits. Make sure you're using the right metric for what they're asking.

I remember March 2024 because that's when I filed my claim too. The job market was pretty tight but not terrible. The 4.1% rate mentioned earlier sounds right based on what I was seeing in job postings and response rates at the time.

If you need more context around that unemployment rate, March 2024 was when the Fed was still dealing with inflation concerns but the job market remained relatively stable. Most economic indicators were showing a cooling but not collapsing labor market.

Pro tip: if you're going to be working in economic research, bookmark the BLS website. You'll probably be referencing employment statistics regularly in that type of role.

Washington's unemployment rate has been pretty stable compared to some other states. The 4.1% in March 2024 was actually slightly below the national average at that time if I remember correctly.

Thanks for asking this question - I learned about several new data sources from reading the responses. The FRED database in particular looks really useful for economic research.