EVERETT — Snohomish County’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.6% in August. It’s a slight improvement from the previous month, according to new data from the state Employment Security Department.
Statewide, the unemployment rate remained at 5.1%. Nationally, the unemployment rate for adult men decreased to 5.1%, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The jobless rate didn’t change much for adult women nationally and was 4.8%.
Washington added 16,800 total jobs in August, with 13,000 in the private sector. The industries that gained the most jobs in the state were leisure and hospitality and accommodation and food services. Social assistance and retail trade lost the most.
In the past year, the state has gained 174,600 jobs. (That figure is not seasonally adjusted.) The public sector lost 500 jobs, but the private sector gained 175,100.
Last month, regional economist Anneliese Vance-Sherman referred to Snohomish County’s 5.9% unemployment rate in July as “relatively low” and wrote that it suggests “people who are willing and able to work are successfully connecting with jobs.”
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