Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008

Tri-City jobs up despite 1-month loss

By Pratik Joshi, Herald staff writer

The Tri-Cities lost about 700 nonfarm jobs and 6,400 agriculture jobs in July when compared with June, the State Employment Security Department reported Tuesday.

But that's only half the picture because the state reported the Tri-Cities still has gained about 1,800 nonfarm jobs over the last year. There were 92,900 nonfarm jobs in July, up 1.97 percent from July 2007.

The job market was boosted during the year by gains in education and health services, food services, local government, construction, and the trade, transportation, warehousing and utilities sector and the private services sector.

In contrast, the state's nonfarm job growth for the year was about 1 percent.

Most of the month-to-month jobs decline was in education as schools closed for summer, said Dean Schau, regional labor economist for the state Employment Security Department.

He said the decline in agricultural jobs also was seasonal, as farmers didn't need additional help after harvesting asparagus and cherries. The loss in agricultural employment pushed the unemployment rate in the Tri-Cities up to 5.8 percent in July from 5.4 percent in June.

But Schau said he expects farm jobs to revive in September and October for harvest of potatoes and apples.

The Tri-City economy is slowing but remains healthy, Schau said. "We are doing better than a lot of other places."

The financial services and professional and business services sectors have remained steady but haven't shown growth, being partly affected by high fuel prices and the nationwide fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis.

The national economic slowdown also may have contributed to reduced demand for administrative and support services jobs, Schau said. Recently, Gov. Chris Gregoire also imposed a hiring freeze and ordered state agencies to pare expenses.

Weakening consumer confidence also thwarted growth in the leisure and hospitality industry, although the retail sector added about 100 jobs in July, bringing the total number employed there to 11,400.

Wholesale trade, warehousing and utilities also added 200 jobs over the month. But manufacturing saw a decline of 600 jobs over the year, a result of consolidation of some food processing operations, Schau said.

Candice Bluechel, business services manager at WorkSource Columbia Basin, said the economy is sending mixed signals. While she hasn't heard of any large-scale layoffs locally, it's possible businesses aren't filling open positions, she said.

That's perhaps why the work force in Benton and Franklin counties thinned from 128,260 in June to 121,480 in July.

Also, the number of workers receiving unemployment benefits in Benton County dropped from 1,319 in June to 1,256 in July. In July 2007, the count was 1,465.

In Franklin County, the number of workers getting unemployment insurance increased to 750 in July, up from 679 in June, but down from 802 in July 2007.

In Washington, an estimated 189,300 workers were without jobs, despite the addition of about 3,300 nonfarm jobs in July. "We are getting a muddled picture," said Dave Wallace, acting chief economist for the Employment Security Department.

Also, Washington's unemployment rate increased to 5.7 percent in July from 5.4 percent in June. Wallace said he expects the state economy to get worse before it gets better.

Unemployment rates, not seasonally adjusted, reported in metropolitan areas around the state were: Bellingham, 5.5 percent; Bremerton, 5.7; Longview, 8.6; Mount Vernon-Anacortes, 6.0; Olympia, 5.6; Spokane, 6.1; Tacoma, 6.3; Wenatchee, 4.5; and Yakima, 6.9.

These labor market areas also were reported: Aberdeen, 7.8 percent; Centralia, 8.5; Ellensburg, 6.2; Moses Lake, 5.9; Oak Harbor, 6.1; Port Angeles, 7.4; Pullman, 6.0; Shelton, 7.0; and Walla Walla, 5.4.

Unemployment rates in other counties were: Adams, 5.5 percent; Asotin, 5.8; Chelan, 4.4; Clark, 7.0; Columbia, 7.2; Douglas, 4.5; Ferry, 8.2; Garfield, 4.8; Jefferson, 5.8; King, 4.1; Klickitat, 7.7; Lincoln, 5.8; Okanogan, 5.2; Pacific, 7.2; Pend Oreille, 8.2; San Juan, 3.6; Skamania, 7.4; Snohomish, 4.7; Stevens, 7.9; and Wahkiakum, 7.5.