Clark County jobless claims high, but slowly falling last few weeks By Will Campbell, Columbian Assistant Metro Editor Published: March 4, 2021, 6:31pm Share: The homepage of the Washington State Employment Security Department. Unemployment insurance claims in Clark County remain stubbornly high, but the number of claimants has been slowly dropping in the last few weeks, mostly due to food workers returning to work. Total continued claims dropped to 15,705 last week from 16,115 the week before, according to Scott Bailey, regional economist for Southwest Washington. Regular continued claims were down by 353 claims, and almost half of that was accommodations and food services, he said.