12-058

OLYMPIA – Washington’s unemployment rate headed back down in September, while the number of jobs continued to climb, according to the state Employment Security Department. 

The estimated unemployment rate was 8.5 percent, down from an estimate of 8.6 percent in August. At the same time, jobs grew by an estimated 1,200 in September.

The initially estimated loss of 1,100 jobs in August has been revised to a gain of 2,500. 

“The revision to the August job numbers shows why it’s risky to place too much importance on preliminary estimates, or on one month of numbers,” said Joe Elling, chief labor economist for Employment Security. “The trend over the past 31 months shows an increasing rate of job growth.”

As an example, in January through September of 2011, 31,600 jobs were added in Washington, while an estimated 52,300 jobs have been added in the first nine months of 2012.

Industries with the most estimated job gains in September were leisure and hospitality, up 3,900 jobs, and government, with a gain of 2,700.  Most of the government job gains were in education, while employment in state agencies dropped by another 1,000.

Industries with seasonally adjusted job losses included manufacturing, down 1,300; retail trade, down 1,100; other services, down 900; transportation, warehousing and utilities, down 900; wholesale trade, down 900; and financial activities, with a loss of 500 jobs.

In September, an estimated 296,000 people (seasonally adjusted) in Washington were unemployed and looking for work. That includes 126,080 who claimed unemployment benefits last month.

Also in September, 3,223 unemployed workers ran out of unemployment benefits, bringing the total to 111,892 since extended benefits were activated in July 2008.

###

• Full report at https://fortress.wa.gov/esd/employmentdata/reports-publications/economic-reports/monthly-employment-report
• Employment/economic information – esd.wa.gov/employmentdata
• State and local trends - https://fortress.wa.gov/esd/employmentdata/reports-publications/regional-reports/numbers-and-trends
• Employment Security – esd.wa.gov
• WorkSource - go2worksource.com

Broadcast version

Washington’s unemployment rate headed back down last month, decreasing from eight-point-six percent in August to an estimated eight-point-five percent in September.

According to preliminary estimates from the Employment Security Department, the state also added twelve-hundred jobs in September. 

In addition, the job losses initially announced for August have been revised to a gain of 25-hundred jobs – after additional data came in. 

The state’s chief labor economist says the rate of job growth has increased.  During the first nine months of 2012, job growth was about 66 percent higher than it was during the same period in 2011.