Tri-City construction, hospitality jobs growing

The Tri-City unemployment rate creeped up in July but many job sectors are still going strong compared to a year ago.

Much of recent job losses were from seasonal declines, such as school employees out of work between school sessions and change over between various crop harvests.

But construction and the hospitality industry, which are largely seasonal, added a handful of employees. They also were among the industries making the biggest gains compared to 2014, each having 500 more workers at this time than they did a year ago.

“That’s actual real growth,” said Ajsa Suljic, a regional economist with the state.

The unemployment rate was 6.5 percent for the Tri-Cities in July, up from 6 percent the previous month. The number of nonfarm workers shrank by more than 1,000 positions during the same period with about 200 more unemployment claims being filed.

Those changes are consistent with similar shifts around the state and for this time of year, as cherry picking season wound down before the height of apple picking, and schools sit mostly empty through the middle of the summer.

But the region still has 1,700 more people working in nonfarm jobs at this time than it did a year ago.

The total number of workers is slightly higher than it was in 2014 and the number filing for unemployment is down by about 600 claims. The unemployment rate also is still at the second-lowest level the Tri-Cities has seen in several years, and the region has seen 28 consecutive months of job growth, Suljic said.

Most industries outside agriculture made relatively small gains in employees over the month, a few such as retail and transportation and utility companies adding as many as 200 positions each.

Year-over-year, however, most have made big gains. Education and health care, despite having declined by about 100 positions in the past month, are still up by around 600 employees compared to July 2014. The growth in construction and hospitality are 7.8 percent and 5 percent above last year’s figures respectively.

Government agencies at all levels are one of the few employers that have stayed relatively flat in that same period. Manufacturing and jobs related to the work being done at the Hanford site were the only sectors to see a loss of positions compared to the same time last year.

The Tri-City housing market has seen record sales in recent months. That’s drained the inventory of available homes, sending business to home builders who have said they are seeing custom home orders stack up.

Part of the tourism industry’s growth is logistical — four new hotels have opened in the Tri-Cities in the past year, and the M Hotel in Richland, which had closed, is welcoming guests again under new management, said Kim Shugart, vice president of Visit Tri-Cities. Those businesses require maids, front desk clerks, restaurant managers and other staff.

But there are also more attractions drawing people to the Mid-Columbia, such as the Reach center and Carousel of Dreams in Southridge. Wineries are going beyond just having tasting rooms, organizing special events and winemaker’s dinners.

“They’re creating entire experiences and that would take more bodies to do,” Shugart said.

The Tri-City unemployment rate is still higher than the state’s of 5.4 percent, up from 5.2 percent in June.

Elsewhere in the region, Walla Walla County had 5.6 percent unemployment, Adams County was at 5.4 percent and Grant at 5.6 percent. Yakima County was only slightly higher than the Tri-Cities at 6.8 percent unemployment.

This story was originally published August 30, 2015 at 10:27 PM with the headline "Tri-City construction, hospitality jobs growing."