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She notes that legislators “were pretty exasperated” that ESD’s claims system wasn’t mobile-friendly.

According to ESD, that lower rate partly reflects the state’s healthier economy; Washingtonians tend to file for fewer weeks of unemployment than workers in other states.

Lockhart, who endured a similar claims ordeal in 2020, was so frustrated at one point he Googled “what’s wrong with Washington ESD?” which merely took him to news stories about the agency’s surprisingly persistent woes.

As of March, ESD had 212 customer service staff and trainees, versus 271 in January 2023 and 938 in December 2021.

More challenging, claimants themselves now behave differently than they did pre-COVID in ways that have increased ESD’s workload.