Major cutbacks in the building industry in Snohomish County are blamed for a sharp increase in unemployment in May, the state Employment Security Department reported Tuesday.
Local unemployment increased from 3.6 percent in April to 4.6 percent last month.
“We dodged a bullet for quite a while,” said Donna Thompson, a regional labor economist with the department. “But unfortunately, it’s catching up with us.”
Thompson was talking about the national housing crisis.
Thompson said the local construction industry is doing poorly because of the slowdown in home sales. “There are a high number of homes that haven’t sold and are still in the market,” she said, noting that those homes need to be cleared out before builders can start on new ones.
Last month, the county lost 300 construction jobs. During the past year, it’s lost 3,300. “Construction workers are losing their jobs and it’s really having an effect,” Thompson said.
She noted that many local homebuyers bought adjustable mortgages that could be increasing to much higher interest rates during the next four years. “We could be looking for another year of pain and then we should start coming out of it,” Thompson said.
That’s about how long she expects a significant number of homes from failed mortgages to be moving into the local market.
King County also saw its unemployment rise significantly in May, moving to 3.9 percent from 3.1 percent in April. In Island County, unemployment rose from 5.1 percent in April to 5.4 percent in May. Statewide, the jobless rate moved from 4.7 percent in April to 5.3 percent in May, the first time in 20 months that it was been above 5 percent.
“The nation’s economic downturn is finally catching up with us, but we are still doing better than a lot of the country,” said Karen Lee, the employment security commissioner.
In addition to housing woes, Thompson said, the county is getting pummeled by gasoline prices, in part because some 133,000 workers — nearly one-third of our work force — commute to jobs in King County.
Unlike some areas of the country, which reported increasing retail sales because of government stimulus checks, Snohomish County retailers aren’t seeing it much yet, Thompson added.
“Locally, the retail sector remained flat over the month,” she said, adding that gas prices may be to blame.
“Consumers are reining it in,” she said. “They have to spend more at the gas pump and they don’t have the money to spend at the mall.”
But there is good news, she added, pointing at consistent hiring at the Boeing Co. and other aerospace firms in the county.
Last month, the industry added 400 new workers. During the past year, it’s added 4,600. That accounts for nearly the entire gains in the manufacturing sector for the past 12 months.
Last month, the county added a net of 800 jobs but still saw the big hike in unemployment.
That can help when there are population gains or when people who hadn’t been looking for work re-enter the job market.
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