EVERETT — Snohomish County’s jobless rate edged up last month as construction, retail and restaurant industry slowdowns finally outweighed new jobs added by aerospace companies.
January saw a net loss of 2,300 jobs countywide from December, according to the state Employment Security Department. The county’s labor force, excluding farm jobs, fell to just under 265,000, from 267,000.
Still, at 4.3 percent, the local unemployment rate remains below the national average of 4.9 percent. It’s also below January’s statewide rate of 4.5 percent, which itself is a near-record low.
Yet there are signs of trouble, said Donna Thompson, local labor economist with the Employment Security Department.
January usually sees some seasonal jobs shed after the end of the holiday season.
“This year, the drops are sharper than before,” Thompson said, noting that stores alone cut 1,000 retail jobs in January. Last month restaurants and bars dropped 400, and 600 construction jobs disappeared.
“An increasing backlog of unsold homes took its toll on construction jobs as building slowed down,” Thompson wrote in an analysis of last month’s report. “Fortunately, the local economy hasn’t been hit as hard as other areas of the country.”
Losses in construction and other sectors easily surpassed the 600 aerospace jobs created last month. The Boeing Co. and other aerospace firms in the county expanded last year by more than 5,000 jobs, a huge contribution for the local economy. In January, however, the sector’s continued expansion wasn’t enough, Thompson said.
“Normally, it’s enough to offset all the other (categories), but last month it wasn’t,” Thompson said.
Across the state, last month saw the addition of 5,800 jobs, sending Washington’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate downward.
“This near all-time low unemployment rate shows that Washington’s economy continues to be in a stronger position than the rest of the nation,” Gov. Chris Gregoire said in a written statement.
Snohomish County still could count about 20,500 jobs more in January than in the same month a year ago. Every major sector except for financial services has added jobs here since the start of 2007. That’s because of phenomenal job growth throughout last year, when Snohomish County was home to 29 percent of all the jobs created in the state.
And even with a slight edging up, Snohomish County’s unemployment rate ranked as the third lowest statewide, behind only King and Whitman counties. Island County’s rate stood at 5.8 percent last month.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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