Nearly 10,000 people back to work in Benton, Franklin counties in June

Benton and Franklin counties appear to be headed on the right path with more people going back to work in June.

More than 6,200 people in Benton County went back to work in June from the prior month, according to the Washington State Employment Security Department.

The number of unemployment claims for June also dropped by about 3,000, and the jobless rate declined from 12.2 percent in May to 9.1 percent.

In Franklin County, nearly 3,200 people rejoined the workplace and unemployment claims dropped by 1,200. Franklin also saw an overall jobless rate decline from 12.3 percent to 9.2 percent.

Both Benton and Franklin counties fall below Washington’s overall unemployment rate of 9.8 percent. Nationwide the jobless number remains in the double digits at 11.2 percent.

The Washington State Secretary of Health approved a modified Phase 1 for Tri-Cities on July 3, which came with a limited number of reopenings.

While it remains to be seen what that next step in the state’s phased reopening plan does for employment in the Tri-Cities, there was an increase of first-time claims the first week it was in effect.

From July 5-11, Franklin had 79 new initial unemployment claims and Benton had 251 new first-time filers. In both counties, food manufacturing had the highest number of new claims followed by specialty trade contractors and food services.