Snohomish County’s jobless rate jumped so dramatically in January and February that a slight increase in March was considered good news Tuesday by labor economist Donna Thompson.
“This is somewhat of a relief,” she said.
Unemployment in the county was estimated at 9.7 percent last month, reported Thompson, local economist for the state Employment Security Department.
Thompson noted that the jobless rate jumped from 7 percent in December to 8.5 percent in January, then to 9.9 percent in February. The February number was recently revised to 9.6 percent, so last month’s increase was only one-tenth of a percentage point.
“I was concerned that it was going to be over 10 percent,” Thompson said. “Obviously we’re still working through layoffs. I was just relieved it didn’t jump way up.”
Statewide, unemployment was also at 9.7 percent when unadjusted for seasonal factors. The figures for counties are not seasonally adjusted. Seasonally, the statewide number was 9.2 percent last month, up from a seasonally adjusted 8.3 percent in February.
Thompson said the county lost 1,800 nonfarm jobs in March. Among the losses were 600 jobs in construction, 200 in retail, and 400 in employment services. The Boeing Co., which is in the process of cutting 4,500 jobs in the Puget Sound region, cut only 100 workers in the county last month. The company was scheduled to announce another round of layoff notices soon.
Thompson noted that few sectors didn’t see cuts, with health services and local schools being a couple exceptions.
Because of the continued layoffs at Boeing and Microsoft and the continuing recession, Thompson said she expects unemployment to continue to rise.
“I expect a little more deterioration,” she said. “I just hope it’s not severe.”
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