PORT ANGELES – Unemployment rates actually decreased slightly in March. But the numbers likely don’t reflect the surge of unemployment claims that came late in the month as the COVID-19 shut down took hold.
According to the state Employment Security Department, Clallam County saw its unemployment rate improve by half a percent from February’s 6.5 percent to March’s six percent. The March rate is one and half percent better than March of 2019.
But economist expect the April figure to skyrocket as thousands of local residents applied for unemployment when the economy was ordered shut down by the governor to deal with the pandemic.
The local rates aren’t seasonally adjusted like the statewide rate. The statewide rate went up more than a full percentage point during the same period.