Washington jobless rate hits four year low
Jan 16, 2013, 10:18 AM | Updated: 10:55 am
The unemployment rate in Washington fell to 7.6 percent in December, its lowest level in four years. (AP Photo/file)
(AP Photo/file)
The unemployment rate in Washington fell to 7.6 percent in December, its lowest level in four years. That’s a decrease from a seasonally adjusted rate of 7.7 percent in November.
Sectors with the best estimated job gains included construction, at 3,100 and and leisure and hospitality, up 1,400. Government shed 4,700 jobs in December and the retail sector gave up 4,100 jobs.
State Employment Security Department economists concede that the decrease is largely due to a shrinking labor force, which artificially reduces the jobless rate.
In a press release, the agency explains that the unemployment rate “represents the percentage of the labor force that’s unemployed and actively looking for work. People who quit looking for work are not counted as part of the labor force when calculating the unemployment rate.”
Employment security reports that the total number of jobs has grown by about 115,000 in the past three years and the number of workers has fallen 60,000 since employment bottomed out in February 2010.
