Unemployment in Snohomish County plunged in October as nearly one-fourth of the state’s new jobs last month were created here.
“We’re going towards full employment,” Donna Thompson, a labor economist for the state Employment Security Department, said Tuesday.
The jobless rate for both the state and Snohomish County dropped one-half of a percentage point last month, employment security reported. The state’s rate fell from 5.3 percent to 4.8 percent.
The average rate for 2006, 4.9 percent, is the best showing since 1999, said Employment Security Commissioner Karen Lee.
“The opportunities continue to widen, and it’s bringing greater economic stability to our state,” she said.
The county rate dropped from 4.6 percent to 4.1 percent, again coming close to what economists call full employment of people who want jobs and are capable of handling them.
Continuing population growth and hiring at Boeing helped spark strong job growth in the county, Thompson said.
She noted that jobs in local schools rose by 1,500 last month. While seasonal gains are expected for the start of the school year, population increases also are pushing up employment numbers.
“If the kids show up, the schools have to take them,” Thompson said.
She noted that population growth also has aided home construction. Home sales have slowed a bit, but prices still are higher than they were a year ago.
“This will probably still be the third-best year on record for housing,” she said.
She predicted that the recent floods will keep the sector busy for much longer than the usual construction season.
“After this flood, every construction company is as busy as can be,” she said.
In addition to construction gains, Boeing and related aerospace companies hired 300 more people last month, helping well-paying manufacturing jobs continue to increase.
Since January, Thompson noted, Boeing has received orders for 215 planes to be built in Everett, including 141 of the new 787 Dreamliners. During the past year, the aerospace sector has added 2,800 local jobs.
The county continues to add jobs at a faster rate than any of the state’s other large counties, Thompson said. The 2,500 jobs added in the county in October represented 23 percent of the jobs added throughout the state last month.
Thompson noted that the county is producing jobs at an annual rate of 4.6 percent, compared to the state’s growth rate of 3.6 percent.
“We’re on a roll,” she said.
One of the slow sectors in the county this year has been retail shopping, Thompson said. But she expects that sector to pick up because gas prices have fallen, encouraging people to spend more. Stores also will be gearing up for the holiday season this month by beefing up temporary jobs, she said.
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