September 2024 Monthly Employment Report

State unemployment rate holds steady in September

OLYMPIA – Washington’s economy lost an estimated 2,000 jobs (seasonally adjusted) in September, and the monthly unemployment rate held steady at 4.8%.

“Washington’s labor market has been in a holding pattern,” said Anneliese Vance-Sherman, chief labor economist for the Employment Security Department. “The unemployment rate has been holding around 4.8% for most of the year, and the strong job gains experienced over the past few years have slowed to relatively small monthly changes.”

The leisure and hospitality, information, and financial activities industries experienced the largest job losses from August to September. Education and health services, construction and wholesale trade led statewide employment growth during that same time.

The unemployment rate has hovered at 4.8 to 4.9% since March 2024. For comparison, the unemployment rate stood at 3.6% in September 2023.

Employment Security paid unemployment benefits to 53,914 people in September, a decrease of 1,538 over the previous month. Decreases in paid claims in these industries helped contribute to the decrease:

• Transportation and warehousing.
• Health care and social assistance.

Visit Employment Security’s website to view the entire Monthly Employment Report for September 2024 (PDF, 319KB).

Updated state preliminary data for August 2024

• The preliminary estimated gain of 1,600 jobs was revised to a gain of 2,100.
• The seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment rate remained at 4.8%.

National unemployment rate

The national unemployment rate decreased from 4.2% in August to 4.1% in September. For comparison, the national unemployment rate (revised) for September 2023 was 3.8%.

Labor force showed little change

From August to September 2024, the number of people who were unemployed statewide decreased slightly from 194,304 to 190,342. In the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region, the number of people who were unemployed decreased from 78,903 to 77,785 over the same period.

The state’s labor force in September stood at 4,003,205 – a decrease of 9,072 people from the previous month. In the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region, the labor force increased by 1,284 people during the same period.

Labor force is defined as the total number of people, both employed and unemployed, over the age of 16. Layoffs and labor force participation are not necessarily connected. When people are laid off but still seeking work, they remain a part of the labor force. A drop in the labor force means people have left work and haven't been actively seeking employment for more than four weeks.

Five major industry sectors expanded, seven contracted from August to September

Private sector employment decreased by 1,800 jobs from August to September. Government employment decreased by 200 during that same time.

The largest sector-level gains in private industry were in education and health services (up 3,000 jobs), construction (up 1,600), and wholesale trade (up 1,500 jobs).

• The highest one-month gains in education and health services were in private education services (up 1,600 jobs) and ambulatory care services (up 1,100 jobs).
• Social assistance (down 400 jobs) is the only set of industries reporting one-month losses in the education and health services sector.

Seven sectors saw decreases in employment: leisure and hospitality (down 5,300); information (down 1,700); financial activities (down 900); manufacturing (down 500); government (down 200); transportation, warehousing and utilities (down 200); and professional and business services (down 200).

Annual employment growth appears in public and private industries

Washington gained an estimated 44,600 jobs from September 2023 to September 2024 (not seasonally adjusted). During that time, private sector employment rose 0.9%, increasing by 26,000 jobs. Public sector employment grew 3.2%, increasing by an estimated 18,600 jobs.

The two industry sectors with the largest employment gains year over year (not seasonally adjusted) were:

• Education and health services, up 19,500 jobs.
• Construction, up 5,300 jobs.

The information sector reported the biggest employment loss year over year (not seasonally adjusted). It contracted by 5,400. Within the sector, the software publishing industry shed an estimated 4,200 jobs.

Table 1: Washington’s total jobs

*Revised from previous preliminary estimates. Preliminary monthly estimates for job losses or gains are based on a small Bureau of Labor Statistics payroll survey. Actual figures reported the following month are based on a more complete survey.

Table 2: August job gains and losses by industry

Labor market information

See more labor market information and tools, including interactive Tableau graphics, to highlight popular information and data.

WorkSource

Employment Security is a proud partner in the statewide WorkSource system, which provides employment and training assistance to job seekers and businesses. WorkSourceWA provides access to thousands of Washington jobs and other employment resources. WorkSource staff can connect job seekers with employers hiring right now in their community, identify training opportunities or help them brush up on application and interview skills. Job seekers and employers can find their nearest WorkSource center on the WorkSource office locator page.

Learn more about Employment Security's monthly employment reports

Every month, the Employment Security Department publishes preliminary seasonally adjusted estimates for the prior month’s job growth and unemployment. We also publish confirmed data for the month before last. See the entire Monthly Employment Report on our website.

Monthly Employment Report publication schedule for 2024

U-6 unemployment rate

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) updated its “alternative measures of labor underutilization” for states to include annual averages for 2021. One such alternative measure is the U-6 rate, which considers not only the unemployed population in the official “U-3” unemployment rate, but also marginally attached workers and those employed part time for economic reasons. The U-6 rate is defined by BLS as the “total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers.” This U-6 measure measures the “unemployed, underemployed, and those who are not looking but who want a job.”

Washington’s U-6 annual average unemployment rate for the four-quarter period through second quarter 2024 was 9.2%. This is above the 7.3% average for the four-quarter period through second quarter 2023. The U.S. U-6 average for the four-quarter period through second quarter 2024 was 7.2%.

Web links

• Monthly Employment Report for September 2024 (PDF, 319KB)
• Labor market information website
• Historical data
• Employment Security website
• Find a regional economist