Construction, hospitality keep Tri-City economy humming in August

The Mid-Columbia continued its growth streak in August as rising employment in the construction and hospitality industries, among others, buoyed the economy.

The local employment rate ticked up slightly to 4.8 percent in August, up one tenth of a point from July but well below the 6.4 percent rate posted last year, according to figures released Tuesday by the Washington Employment Security Department.

There were about 9,000 construction jobs in August, or 1,300 more than a year ago.

Leisure and hospitality grew by 400 jobs to 11,900 jobs and local government, including schools, grew by 200 positions, to 14,600 positions.

Administrative and waste services fell 1,000 positions to 10,600 and manufacturing fell 300 jobs to 8,200.

Overall, Tri-City jobs grew to 132,004 positions, an annualized gain of 3 percent.

The statewide unemployment rate was 4.5 percent and the economy grew to more than 3.5 million jobs, a 3.1 percent annualized growth rate.

Elsewhere, the unemployment rate for August was 4.5 percent in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area, 5 percent in Spokane, 4.4 percent in Walla Walla, 4.9 percent in Moses Lake and 5.8 percent in Yakima.

This story was originally published September 19, 2017 at 5:16 PM with the headline "Construction, hospitality keep Tri-City economy humming in August."