Tri-City economy passes its summer peak

The Tri-City economy showed signs of peak summer activity in July as unemployment remained largely the same and there was a slight easing back on construction work.

The unemployment rate was 4.8 percent in July, according to figures released Tuesday by the Washington Employment Security Department. That’s one-tenth of a percent higher than June’s adjusted rate and 1.6 percentage points lower than a year ago. The regional record low is 4.7 percent.

At 4.8 percent, July exhibited the classic signs of the start of a seasonal slowdown as summer transitions to fall.

The construction industry shed about 100 jobs but is still up 1,200 positions over a year ago, for an annualized growth rate of nearly 16 percent.

Education and health services dropped 200 jobs from June and local and federal government dropped a combined 500 posts. Local government will rebound in the fall to reflect hiring for the 2017-18 school year.

Employment security said the civilian labor force reached nearly 141,600 people, pushing the annual growth rate to nearly 3 percent. The Tri-City economy has now been expanding for more than four years. There were nearly 135,000 local jobs in July, 5,884 more than a year ago.

The Washington unemployment rate for July was 54.4 percent, unchanged from June but a full point lower than last year.

The state rate was pulled down by the Seattle area, where the unemployment rate was 3.7 percent. Elsewhere: Spokane, 5.1 percent, Walla Walla, 4.4 percent, Wenatchee, 3.5 percent, Longview, 5.6 percent, Moses Lake, 4.7 percent, Tacoma, 5 percent, Olympia, 4.7 percent, Bellingham, 4.7 percent, and Yakima, 4.8 percent.

This story was originally published August 22, 2017 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Tri-City economy passes its summer peak."