By Nicholas K. Gerianos
Associated Press
SPOKANE — Washington’s economy was heading for the trash bin before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, and the evidence was clear in everything from high-tech layoffs to the declining number of movie theaters, a new report says.
Much of the economic pain was centered in the state’s largest cities, the report by the state Employment Security Department found.
"Regionally, it is really the larger metropolitan areas that have posted losses recently," said the report, which covered business activity for October and November. "The mid-size metropolitan areas have generally held their own, even expanded."
The state’s unemployment rate was already moving up before Sept. 11, but the terrorist attacks "certainly amplified the weakness" in the state’s economy, the report said.
Job losses were reported in the labor categories of air transportation, tourism, amusement and recreation services, the report said. Those were industries most likely directly affected by the terrorist attacks.
Washington’s unemployment rate rose to 6.2 percent in October, from 4.9 percent the year before. For metropolitan areas it rose to 6 percent from 4.5 percent.
Adjusted for seasonal changes, the state’s unemployment rate hit 7 percent in November, the highest it’s been in eight years. It is expected to rise more in 2002.
As with previous downturns, Boeing is a major factor. The company plans to lay off 30,000 commercial airplane workers by the middle of next year, in response to weakened demand for airplanes in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Boeing’s first round of 5,000 job cuts was earlier this month and isn’t reflected in the most-recent state unemployment figures.
Much of the rising unemployment was centered in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett metropolitan area, the report said. Clark County also suffered big job losses.
However, jobs in the Tri-Cities held steady, thanks largely to government hiring for Hanford cleanup work.
Among smaller counties, Adams, Asotin, Clallam, Ferry, Garfield, Grant, Grays Harbor, Okanogan and Skamania counties actually saw their unemployment rates fall during the year, the report said. Douglas, Lewis, Pacific and Walla Walla counties essentially held steady
The report also found:
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