The Snohomish County economy continued to grow in the last month of 2006, adding 700 people to payrolls, state Employment Security Department officials said Tuesday.
“Most major sectors posted gains,” said Donna Thompson, a labor economist for the agency.
She noted that the Boeing Co. and other aerospace businesses added 200 workers, retailers added 400 jobs for the holiday shopping season, restaurants and taverns also added 400 workers and the professional and business sector added 500 jobs.
The government sector was the big loser, dropping 500 jobs. Some 400 of those were seasonal losses as people were out of work for the Christmas holidays.
Thompson noted that economic expansion in the county was at a 5.4 percent annual rate, nearly twice the growth rate for the state as a whole.
The jobless rate was 4.5 percent in December, three-tenths of a percentage point less than the November rate of 4.8 percent.
Statewide, Washington added 3,300 workers. That means Snohomish County accounted for nearly 25 percent of the state’s job growth last month. The jobless rate was 5 percent, the same as in November.
In Snohomish County, the additional workers swelled the employment rolls to 341,400, with 16,200 people still seeking work.
In Island County, there were 31,800 people working and 1,600 still seeking jobs. The unemployment dropped to 4.7 percent, down one-tenth of a percentage point from November and down three-tenths of a percentage point from December 2005.
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