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Washington’s Unemployment Rate Ticks Up to 6% in October

Washington state’s unemployment rate ticked up again to 6 percent, according to the monthly jobs report issued by the Employment Security Department Wednesday.

The state added 6,200 nonfarm jobs in the private sector, according to preliminary figures, but lost 600 government jobs.

But the report says the number of unemployed people rose by 10,700 from September to October, reflecting worker re-entering the labor market due to more opportunities for employment as the economy continues to improve, said Paul Turek, a labor economist with the Employment Security Department.

The department made significant revisions to its preliminary figures in the September report, released last month, now saying the state added 1,600 jobs instead of losing 600. That lowered the unemployment rate to 5.7 percent, compared to the 5.9 percent initially estimated.

Year-over-year, the state’s economy is still faring better than it did in October 2013, when the unemployment rate was 6.8 percent, according to the monthly report.

Job growth has been strong overall in Washington as the economy leaves the recession that officially ended in 2010 in its rear view mirror, adding 86,000 jobs in the last year.

The state has added 274,000 jobs since the bottom of the recession, Turek said. It finally recovered all the jobs lost in the recession at the beginning of the year, outpacing the national economic trend, as the U.S. didn’t recover all jobs lost until May, he said.

Looking ahead, Turek said he believed slow-but-steady economic growth was on the horizon for Washington. Lower gasoline prices, in some areas below $3 a gallon for the first time in years, could be an economic boost as consumers save more money on transportation costs, he said.

It will take some time – and prolonged low fuel prices – for that money to circulate its way into the economy, he said.

The leisure and hospitality and retail trade sectors paced job growth in Washington in October, adding 2,700 and 2,200 jobs, respectively. On the other end, education and health services and wholesale trade contracted, shedding 1,000 and 1,700 jobs, respectively, according to the report.

Overall, nine industries expanded, while four contracted, the report says.

As expected, the unemployment rate in October in the Seattle metro area was well below the statewide average, at 4.8 percent, the same as September, according to the report.


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