"Unemployment Up; So's Employment, But Not Enough"

The Employment Security Department reported yesterday that Washington's unemployment rate climbed to 5.7 percent. That's up 0.4 percent from the revised rate for June. Employment was also up slightly.

Washington added an estimated 3,300 non-agricultural jobs in July, after June?s employment was revised from the previous report of no change to a seasonally adjusted decline of 1,800 jobs.

Here;s one explanation.

?More and more people in Washington have decided to look for work,�� said Employment Security Commissioner Karen Lee, to explain why the unemployment rate increased even though the number of jobs went up. ?With fuel prices and other costs rising, families are looking for ways to increase their income.��

A quick survey of coverage by state newspapers shows the diverse impact.

The Herald of Everett reports:

Snohomish County added 700 new jobs last month and still saw its unemployment rate rise, the state Department of Employment Security reported Tuesday.

...The jobless rate hit 4.7 percent last month, an increase of three tenths of a percentage point from June.

In Spokane, the Spokesman-Review notes a smaller uptick, 0.1 percent, but an unemployment rate of 6.1 percent. ESD regional economist Doug Tweedy notes the county numbers are not seasonally adjusted -  the state numbers are - and says they reflect "downtime " for  area teachers.  Otherwise, he sees slight employment gain.

Yakima hits 6.9 percent unemployment, up 1.4 percent for the same month last year. The Yakima Herald-Republic ties it to the ag economy, particularly a sluggish cherry season.

And Clark County hit 7.0 percent. The Columbian reports it's the highest July unemployment rate since 2004.

Even the generally robust Puget Sound region has been affected. Drew DeSilver does a nice job explaining the numbers, the methodologies, and putting it all in context in his Seattle Times story.

Washington now has the same jobless rate as the United States as a whole, after 13 straight months of outperforming the nation. What growth there is is concentrated in the four-county Puget Sound region? King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap counties? which provides nearly two-thirds of all payroll jobs in the state. The region gained 8,800 jobs in July, more than offsetting the 5,500 lost in the rest of Washington.

After adjusting for seasonal variations in the labor force, the unemployment rate in King and Snohomish counties did rise to 4.3 percent last month from 3.9 percent in June. Though 1,800 more people reported they were working, a total 8,500 people entered the local labor force in July.

Overall, the hoped-for summer turnaround hasn't happened, something also reflected in the underperforming state revenue collections.

Ask the candidates what they plan to do to improve economic conditions and address the budget shortfall. And check out their responses on our candidate questionnaire. If you don't see your candidate's response on our site, encourage them to fill it out and return it now.