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Washington adds more than 10,000 jobs in November

12/16/2015

15-078

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

Unemployment rate rises slightly to 5.3 percent

OLYMPIA –Washington added 10,100 new nonfarm jobs, on a preliminary, seasonally adjusted basis, from October 2015 to November 2015, according to the November Monthly Employment Report from the state’s Employment Security Department (ESD).

While the state gained jobs, Washington’s unemployment rate rose slightly to 5.3 percent after holding steady at 5.2 percent for two months in a row, according to estimates by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The state’s unemployment rate was 6.3 percent in November 2014. The U.S. unemployment rate remained at 5.0 percent for November 2015.

Unemployment in the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett area rose from 3.8 percent in October 2015 to a preliminary 4.2 percent in November 2015 because the number of people who were unemployed in November grew while the total number of people in the labor force dropped by 1,100.


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

The resident labor force statewide rose slightly from 3.524 million people in October 2015 to nearly 3.53 million in November. The resident labor force in the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region dropped slightly from 1.585 to 1.584 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 185,600 statewide. The number of unemployed in the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett area grew from 60,900 in October to 66,200 in November. ESD paid unemployment insurance benefits to 67,710 people statewide.


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

This month’s report shows the greatest job growth in the professional and business services (3,600) and construction (3,100) industries.

“All in all, Washington enjoyed strong job growth this month, demonstrating continued optimism in the marketplace,” said Paul Turek, Washington’s state labor economist.

Five more industries experienced job gains in the month of November including:

  • Leisure and hospitality (2,700)
  • Government (1,300)
  • Retail trade (1,110)
  • Transportation, warehousing and utilities (1,000); and
  • Wholesale trade (800).

Education and health services and other services experienced the greatest job losses with reductions of 1,400 and 1,600 jobs respectively. The information, manufacturing and financial activities industries saw losses of 300, 100 and 100 respectively.


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

The BLS estimates Washington gained 77,500 jobs from November 2014 to November 2015, on a not seasonally adjusted basis, with 67,900 new jobs in the private sector and 9,600 new jobs in the public sector.

From November 2014 to November 2015, 12 of 13 major industries saw growth — and the number of jobs in the mining and logging industries dropped by 100.

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

  • Leisure and hospitality with 13,700 new jobs;
  • Retail trade with 13,600 new jobs;
  • Professional and business services with 13,100 new jobs;
  • Government with 9,600 new jobs.
  • Construction with 8,700 new jobs.

The state revised October’s preliminary gain of 6,900 nonfarm jobs downward to 1,700 new jobs from September 2015 to October 2015 on a seasonally adjusted basis.

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Web links

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