We’ll take any tidbit of good news these days. Anything to lead us to believe there’s hope for an economic turnaround in the future.
Jobs, we are told, are somewhere out there. This might or might not be of comfort to the thousands of people who are out of work and know how hard it is to get that one job so many people are clamoring for — as was clear at an Everett job fair earlier this week. But at least it’s some good news in the middle of the summer of our economic discontent. Snohomish County is, of course, lagging behind the state which is lagging behind the rest of the country in making this necessary turnaround, but let’s not be pessimists.
Our county is holding steady at an unemployment rate of 7.4 percent. That number is worse than King County’s 6.2 percent, but it’s better than Cowlitz County’s 10.1 percent and Klickitat County’s 13.6 percent.
We can be optimistic along with state officials over the increase of 1,700 jobs in the business services category, but for how long? While some of those jobs are in the computer industry — a large part of our state’s economy — many others are temporary jobs. Work is work and no one should complain about that or turn it away. Temporary jobs are an important part of our economy for those seeking short-term work or entrance to the workforce. But when we talk about economic stability we need to be thinking about that oft-used term, family-wage jobs. People need steady jobs that pay the mortgage or the rent and leave a little left over to spend on leisure, in turn stimulating the economy and creating more jobs. It’s a vicious circle, but it’s the one that really works.
Given the price of housing and rent these days, one might think the economy is doing just fine. But the unemployed are out there. And they’re our family, friends, neighbors and former co-workers. There’s little we can do as individuals to remedy the situation, unless you own a company and are in position to hire people. But resources for the unemployed are out there. WorkSource, with offices in Everett and Lynnwood, holds briefings for those laid-off workers who might be eligible for a grant program to help them look for a new job or train for a new career. However, many people don’t know about this judging from the low numbers showing up for the briefings. Employers might not be able to keep from cutting staff, but they should certainly make options and resources readily available to them.
Knowing that the pain of joblessness might stabilize or lessen in the near future is good news. But there are still way too many people out of work to start celebrating just yet.
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