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Contact:  Paul Turek, labor economist, 360-407-2306
                  Janelle Guthrie, communications director, 360-902-9289

Unemployment drops from 6.3 percent in December 2014 to 5.5 percent in December 2015

OLYMPIA –Washington added 68,000 new jobs from December 2014 to December 2015 on a not seasonally adjusted basis. The private sector grew by 58,600 jobs and the public sector added 9,400, according to the December Monthly Employment Report.

While the state’s unemployment rate increased slightly from November 2015 to December 2015, it dropped from 6.3 percent in December 2014 to 5.5 percent in December 2015, according to estimates by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The U.S. unemployment rate remained at 5.0 percent for December 2015.

Unemployment in the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett area rose from 4.2 percent in November 2015 to a preliminary 4.6 percent in December 2015.

Washington’s labor force grows, Puget Sound region shrinks slightly

The resident labor force statewide rose slightly from nearly 3.53 million people in November 2015 to more than 3.54 million in December. The resident labor force in the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region dropped slightly from 1.584 to 1.583 million over the same period. The labor force is the total number of people, both employed and unemployed, over the age of 16.

The number of unemployed rose to 193,200 statewide. The number of unemployed in the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett area grew from 66,100 in November to 72,200 in December. ESD paid unemployment insurance benefits to 76,558 people statewide.

New jobs in professional and business services, construction drive growth this month

Washington added 7,200 new nonfarm jobs, on a preliminary, seasonally adjusted basis, from November 2015 to December 2015, according to the state’s Employment Security Department (ESD).

“It was another good month for Washington,” said Paul Turek, Washington’s state labor economist. “Job growth has continued to accelerate over the last several months — and we are continuing to see growth in the labor market.”

This month’s report shows the greatest job growth in transportation, warehousing and utilities with 2,200 new jobs last month.

Eight more industries experienced job gains in the month of December including:

• Government (1,600);
• Information (1,300);
• Education and health services (1,100);
• Financial activities (1,100);
• Wholesale trade (1,000);
• Other services (800);
• Manufacturing (600); and
• Construction (600).

Professional and business services lost 1,500 jobs, retail trade lost 900 jobs and leisure and hospitality lost 700 jobs.

Year-over-year growth remains strong with gains in all sectors

From December 2014 to December 2015, 11 of 13 major industries saw growth while the number of jobs in the mining and logging industries dropped by 200 and manufacturing lost 600 jobs.

The top four industry sectors with the largest employment gains from December 2014 to December 2015, not seasonally adjusted, were:

• Retail trade with 13,300 new jobs;
• Leisure and hospitality with 11,600 new jobs;
• Government with 9,400 new jobs; and
• Professional and business services with 9,100 new jobs.

The state revised November’s preliminary gain of 10,100 nonfarm jobs upward to 10,400 new jobs from October 2015 to November 2015 on a seasonally adjusted basis.

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Web links

• Monthly employment report
• Labor-market information website
• State and local trends and projections
• Three-month comparisons, county-to-county (Excel spreadsheet) ~ click “Current estimates” under “Not seasonally adjusted” on the right
• Historical data (Excel spreadsheet) ~ click “Historical estimates” under “Seasonally adjusted” on the right
• Employment Security website

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