After seeing record high unemployment rates, Washington State officials expect the numbers to decrease. | Pixabay
After seeing record high unemployment rates, Washington State officials expect the numbers to decrease. | Pixabay
State officials are reporting the COVID-19 pandemic has caused unemployment on the North Olympic Peninsula to reach record highs in April, with more than 2,800 jobs being lost in Clallam and Jefferson Counties, Peninsula Daily News reported.
While unemployment reach record highs in April, the rate are expected to continue to rise for May's report, the news agency reported. The unemployment rates for Clallam and Jefferson Counties were the highest since 1990, when unemployment statistics first began to be recorded in those areas.
Employment Security Department Commissioner Suzi LeVine said in a statement that the high unemployment numbers didn't surprise here, Peninsula Daily News reported.
“While these numbers are dramatic, it is in alignment with what we expected as the state has taken the public health crisis seriously and is abiding by the ‘Stay Home, Stay Healthy’ order,” LeVine said in her statement.
LeVine and other state officials with the Employment Security Department also said they expect to see an improvement in the jobless numbers as the state continues to reopen, according to the news agency.
Clallam County saw a jump from 5.9% unemployment in March to 18.9% in April, while Jefferson County's rose from 5.3% in March to 17.3% in April, according to the Peninsula Daily News.
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