July 2024 Monthly Employment Report

Unemployment rate rises slightly as the labor market cools

OLYMPIA – Washington’s economy shed an estimated 100 jobs (seasonally adjusted), and the July unemployment rate rose to 4.9%.

“Washington's labor market is in a holding pattern,” said Anneliese Vance-Sherman, chief labor economist for the Employment Security Department. “July marked the fifth consecutive month with an unemployment rate in the 4.8% to 4.9% range. Payroll employment shows a mix of employment gains and losses by sector, continuing the trend we've been experiencing. The extremely tight labor market of the pandemic is behind us.”

Employment Security paid unemployment benefits to 56,548 people in July, a decrease of 1,340 over the previous month. Decreases in paid claims in these industries helped contribute to the decrease:

• Educational services.
• Transportation and warehousing.

Visit Employment Security’s website to view the entire Monthly Employment Report for July 2024 (PDF, 345KB).

Updated state preliminary data for June 2024

• The preliminary estimated gain of 7,100 jobs was revised up to 8,700.
• The seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment rate decreased to 4.8%.

National unemployment rate

The national unemployment rate increased from 4.1% in June to 4.3% in July. For comparison, the national unemployment rate (revised) for July 2023 was 3.5%.

Labor force showed little change

From June to July 2024, the number of people who were unemployed statewide increased slightly from 194,884 to 196,669. In the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region, the number of people who were unemployed increased from 77,611 to 78,818 over the same period.

The state’s labor force in July stood at 4,017,377 – a decrease of 1,482 people from the previous month. In the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region, the labor force decreased by 3,731 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.

Six major industry sectors expanded, seven contracted from June to July

Private sector employment increased by 700 jobs from June to July. Government employment decreased by 800 jobs.

The largest sector-level gains in private industry were in education and health services (up 3,100 jobs), construction (up 1,700), and transportation, warehousing and utilities (up 1,300 jobs).

• The highest one-month gains in education and health services were in health services and social assistance (up 4,100 jobs). Within that sector, the largest gains occurred in hospitals (up 2,000) and social assistance (up 1,900).
• The largest gains in the construction sector were in the construction of buildings (up 1,700) – especially residential construction.

Seven sectors saw decreases in employment: information (down 3,800); other services (down 1,500); wholesale trade (down 1,000); government (down 800); professional and business services (down 300); manufacturing (down 100); and mining and logging (down 100).

Annual employment growth appears in public and private industries

Washington gained an estimated 62,500 jobs from July 2023 to July 2024 (not seasonally adjusted). During that time, private sector employment rose 1.3%, increasing by 39,700 jobs. Public sector employment grew 3.9%, increasing by an estimated 22,800 jobs.

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

• Education and health services, up 23,800 jobs.
• Other services, up 6,400 jobs.
• Construction, up 6,100 jobs.

The information sector reported the biggest employment loss year over year (not seasonally adjusted). It contracted by 9,800, with the software publishing industry shedding the majority (5,800) of those 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: June 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 first quarter 2024 was 8.6%. This is above the 8.1% average for the four-quarter period through fourth quarter 2023. The U.S. U-6 average for the four-quarter period through first quarter 2024 was 7.0%.

Web links

• Monthly Employment Report for July 2024 (PDF, 345KB)
• Labor market information website
• Historical data
• Employment Security website
• Find a regional economist