EVERETT — The jobless rate in Snohomish County fell significantly in December, mostly thanks to a big hiring boost at the Boeing Co., the state Employment Security Department reported Wednesday.
The county’s aerospace industry added 900 workers in December, helping cut unemployment
from a revised 10.1 percent in November to 9.8 percent in December.
“New manufacturing jobs were almost entirely attributable to recent hiring in Snohomish County’s aerospace products and parts manufacturing industries, led by Boeing,” said Anneliese Vance-Sherman, a regional labor economist for Employment Security. “An increase in global demand for Boeing’s commercial aircraft has led to a surge in local hiring activity.”
Boeing recently announced that it will deliver the first 787 this summer or fall. It has a backlog of 847 of the new jets.
Jobs also increased in retail and in trade, transportation and utilities, with both sectors adding 700 workers last month.
“Hiring patterns in retail trade tend to be very seasonal in nature, with peaks occurring every year during the winter holiday season,” Vance-Sherman said, “They also tend to be highly responsive to consumer confidence.”
Most other areas were flat, but there was a big drop in government positions.
State government cut 600 jobs in the county, mostly in school positions, and local governments here lost 300 workers, also mostly in school positions.
“More public sector layoffs are anticipated in the coming months,” Vance-Sherman noted.
Statewide, the jobless rate increased slightly, from 9.2 percent in November to 9.3 percent the last month of the year, according to Employment Security.
The state saw increases in manufacturing, mostly because of the Boeing jobs, retail trade, professional and business services, and education and health. It lost jobs in financial activities, construction, mining and logging, government and information.
Nationally, unemployment fell from 9.8 percent in November to 9.4 percent last month.
Vance-Sherman reported that initial claims for unemployment benefits rose from 5,740 in November to 7,407 in December. Initial claims are an important indicator of which way the economy is trending. Earlier in 2010, initial claims had started to fall.
Continued claims also rose, from 12,498 to 13,142, Vance-Sherman said. “Continued UI claims in Snohomish County fell most months throughout 2010, but have increased in the past two months,” she said.
The top five occupations producing the most benefits claims in the county include: construction, transportation, production, office support and installation, maintenance and repair.
The county saw its labor force fall in December, from 380,210 workers to 379,410. She said that within those estimates, the number of employed people rose by 500 last month and the number of unemployed fell by 1,300.
She noted that the state’s jobless figures only include people actively seeking employment and do not take into account discouraged workers or others who have stopped looking for a job.
Vance-Sherman said that the last half of 2010 “has been characterized by slow growth and stagnation following the largest recession in recent history. As a whole, this period of recovery has seemed slow or practically nonexistent in some cases.”
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