Statewide Jobless Rate Ticks Back Up, to 6.3%

OLYMPIA, WA-After falling one-tenth of a percentage point in March the state’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate rose two-tenths in April, pushing statewide unemployment to 6.3%, according to the latest report from the state Employment Security Department. The national jobless rate fell one-tenth in April to 5.6%.ESD economic analyst Carolyn Cummins tells GlobeSt.com the slight increase for the state is not necessarily a bad sign. Indeed, she says, “It looks like the labor market is gaining momentum.” Her evidence is that, despite the increase, Washington’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment showed a net increase of 21,700 jobs from the end of March, with gains occurring in all major sectors. Given that, the increase in unemployment is apparently due to an increase in the number of people restarting their search for work after having stopped for some time, thereby removing themselves from official labor force calculations, says Cummins.Month-to-month gains were particularly strong in construction (+4,500); professional and business services (+3,400), including a gain of 800 in employment services; leisure and hospitality (+5,100), with gains of 3,000 jobs in food and drinking places; and food processing (+1,200), due to seasonal increases. Manufacturing also created jobs for the second month in a row, up 1,500 in April after an increase of 200 in March, and the information sector was added 400 jobs.Compared to April 2003, jobs are up by 48,400, or 1.8%, which is up from last month’s revised year-over-year increase of 40,700. Manufacturing is still down compared to April 2003, but the number is shrinking, (-9,700). Aerospace, its principle sub-sector was down over the month by 100 and over the year by 5,100. All other major sectors have added jobs since April 2003.Construction is up by 9,100 (6.1%) from this time last year; retail and wholesale trade by 8,600 jobs (2.1%); transportation, warehousing and utilities by 4,200 (4.9%); information by 3,400 (3.7%), and; financial activities by 5,200 (3.4%). Professional and business services was up by 11,100 (9%), including a noteworthy gain of 6,500 jobs in employment services.