Unemployment edged upward in December for Snohomish County and the state as a whole despite strong job growth, the state Department of Employment Security reported Tuesday.
In Snohomish County, where the jobless rate increased by one tenth of a percentage point to 5.4 percent, there was an increase of 700 jobs in December.
In Washington state, unemployment climbed to 5.8 percent, also an increase of one tenth of a percentage point. Employment Security Commissioner Sylvia Mundy said about 13,800 people were hired during December.
Donna Thompson, a labor economist for the department, said the unemployment rate rose even with strong job growth because so many long-term unemployed are looking for jobs again.
“The unemployment rate is often the last indicator to decrease following a recession because of new entrants into the labor force,” she said.
Last month in the county, the Boeing Co. and others in aerospace added 400 workers, but many other sectors remained flat. After adding 1,300 jobs in November because of the opening of the Alderwood mall expansion, the retail sector lost 100 jobs last month.
But the numbers are more significant when looking over the last 12 months. Thompson said the county has added 9,500 jobs since December 2003, mostly in service sectors.
Last month, the county’s labor force was estimated at 359,000 people, with 339,500 on the job and 19,500 looking for work. In Island County, where the jobless rate was 5.3 percent in December, the labor force was estimated at 29,600. About 28,000 people had jobs last month, and 1,600 were looking, according to state estimates.
Statewide, hiring for the year increased by 2.2 percent. That’s the best improvement since 1998, the high-water mark before the dot-com collapse and aerospace slump, economist Roberta Pauer said.
She called the job growth “a milestone in the state’s recovery from recession.” Employment levels were back to 2.7 million in December for the first time since the recession began four years ago.
Pauer said the state is still waiting for a more significant marker, however: the full recovery of all private-sector jobs. During the recession, the private sector shed 115,700 jobs, and only 76,600 have been recouped, she said. Despite some expansion by Boeing, manufacturing overall is still 65,600 jobs below pre-recession levels, she said.
The state outlook is for job growth of about 5,000 per month. Pauer said the unemployment rates will remain fairly steady, however, as more people renew their active job search.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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