EVERETT — Snohomish County’s unemployment rate remained at 5.2% in October as the county’s economic recovery lagged its neighbors’.
The service sector is recovering, but the loss in manufacturing jobs over the past year is slowing overall recovery, according to a recent report from the Washington State Employment Security Department.
Manufacturing jobs fell again in October, reflecting heavy losses in Snohomish County’s largest set of industries over the past year.
The report, written by regional labor economist Anneliese Vance-Sherman, highlights employment changes from September to October as well as changes between October 2020 and October 2021.
“Manufacturing employment didn’t reach its lowest pandemic levels until August 2021,” Vance-Sherman wrote. “As a result, total employment in Snohomish County has appeared to remain stagnant, despite some very divergent trends beneath the surface.”
The manufacturing industries employed 49,200 people as of October, according to the report. Jobs in the industries decreased 7% in the past year. Aerospace product and parts manufacturing lost the most jobs out of any manufacturing industry, shrinking 13.1% in the past year and losing 4,600 jobs. The industry lost 200 of those jobs in October.
Meanwhile, the service sector added jobs over the past year.
“A giant step back reminds us that the service sector was impacted early and swiftly,” Vance-Sherman wrote. “Most reports since spring 2021 have documented recovery in the service sector.”
Government experienced the highest job increase in the service sector, adding 900 jobs in October and 2,400 over the past year.
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