Wash. unemployment rate rises to 9.5 percent in March, although state gained about 1,600 jobs

Wash. jobless rate ticks up to 9.5 pct. in March

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The state’s unemployment rate remained relatively steady at 9.5 percent last month as Washington employers added about 1,600 jobs, officials announced Tuesday.

The jobless rate was slightly higher than February’s revised rate of 9.4 percent. February’s rate was originally listed at 9.5 percent, but it was later revised lower. It still remains lower than the national unemployment rate of 9.7 percent.

“This recovery is going to take time, but the latest job gains are another positive indicator that we’re on the right track,” Employment Security Commissioner Karen Lee said in a written statement.

Nearly 348,000 people in Washington were unemployed and looking for work in March, and more than 291,000 people received unemployment benefits.

Washington state had 67,800 fewer jobs last month than in March 2009, a 2.4 percent decrease. Nationally, employment declined 1.8 percent over the past year.

However, several industries added jobs last month, with the biggest gains in professional and business services, which gained 1,500. Retail trade gained 500 jobs, as did leisure and hospitality. Government gained 400 jobs and wholesale trade added 300, as did transportation, warehousing and utilities. Information was also up by 300 jobs, and mining and logging gained 200.

It was the second month of job growth over the first three months of the year, making economists cautiously optimistic.

“The change is not very big in terms of the jobs and the unemployment rate, but we are starting to see something of a trend,” said Dave Wallace, an economist at the Employment Security Department.

The construction sector continued to shed jobs, however, losing about 1,400 positions in March, and the financial activities sector shed 700 jobs. Education and health services lost 300.

Construction has been hit especially hard by the recession and has lost 26,400 jobs between March 2009 and last month. Those losses accounted for 39 percent of all statewide job losses during that period, economists said.

Wallace said the overall labor force grew by nearly 6,000 people last month. He said it’s likely that many of them are now job hunting again after previously being part of the group of so-called “discouraged workers” who have given up on job searches.

Because the unemployment rate is based on the number of people who are actively looking for work, the rate doesn’t include those who have stopped searching.

“This is a common phenomenon during an economic recovery,” Wallace said. “As people grow more optimistic about their job prospects, they start looking again.”

The highest unemployment rate in the state in March was 16.5 percent in Ferry County in the northeast, a sprawling area that’s home to part of the Colville Indian Reservation and national forest land. Whitman County in the east, home to Washington State University, had the lowest mark at 6.5 percent. King County, the state’s largest county, was at 8.1 percent.

On the Net:

Full report: bit.ly/9iPPn8

Employment Security Department: www.esd.wa.gov