Money & Benefits · State
Washington runs unemployment insurance through the Employment Security Department, which pays one of the highest maximum weekly benefits in the country and calculates every claim from the two highest-earning quarters in a worker’s base year rather than a single quarter. The state also publishes the WARN layoff and closure notices employers file, updated as they arrive.
Washington has no state income tax, and its minimum wage is set each September for the following year and is among the highest state rates.
On this desk Washington appears in the unemployment benefits and minimum wage tables, the WARN notices by state tracker, and the Washington unemployment explainer that walks through the state’s own benefit calculation. Each figure links the Employment Security Department’s own page.
Weekly benefits run up to $1,208, calculated from your two highest-earning quarters, for up to 26 weeks. The 680-hour work test, the waiting week, and why approval can take five to nine weeks.