County jobless rate climbs in November

An influx of jobless workers from nearby areas pushed Spokane County’s unemployment rate up to 6.4 percent in November, according to state jobless numbers released Tuesday.

The month before, Spokane County’s unemployment rate was 5.7 percent.

Most of that November increase comes from workers who’ve lost jobs in North Idaho and Eastern Washington hunting for jobs in Spokane County, said Doug Tweedy, regional labor economist for the state’s Employment Security Department.

Another factor in November’s jobless numbers was the Boeing machinists strike causing disruptions to workers at the Triumph Composites manufacturing plant on the West Plains. Some area workers disrupted by the strike were counted as unemployed in November, Tweedy said.

Washington’s November jobless rate was 6.4 percent, up from 6.3 percent in October. Those figures are adjusted for seasonal fluctuations. Spokane County’s jobless numbers are not adjusted; the state doesn’t modify local jobless data.

The U.S. unemployment rate in November was 6.7 percent, a figure that has grown month by month since March.

Washington lost an estimated 11,700 jobs in November, the state Employment Security Department said. That number did not count workers affected by the Boeing strike, however.

State and Spokane regional economists say Washington and Spokane’s economies are faring slightly better than the national one.

“Like during the 2002 recession, Washington’s economy held up longer than most of the nation, but we’re quickly catching up now,” said Employment Security Commissioner Karen Lee.

Tweedy noted that if not for the influx of other workers, Spokane County actually would have shown a drop in unemployment.

Between October and November about 2,700 jobs were added in Spokane, Tweedy said.

In the same time, though, the number of jobless workers here grew from 13,520 to 15,540.

“People coming here and signing up at WorkSource are North Idaho and Eastern Washington workers who think they’ll find jobs here,” he said.

Kootenai County’s November jobless rate also jumped, to 6.9 percent from 5.9 percent the month before. Idaho’s November statewide jobless rate was 5.8 percent, up from 5.3 percent one month earlier.

In Spokane the industries with the largest monthly gains in hiring were retail trade (up 600 from October) and government (up 300), Tweedy said. The gains in retail are expected as stores hire extra holiday staff.

The government gain, he added, is largely due to jobs added by tribal casinos, which are counted in the local government category.

Looking year over year, Tweedy said Spokane’s economy has held up fairly well because the job base is more diversified than it was before. Compared to all of 2007, Spokane County had a net gain of 700 jobs January through November, Tweedy said.

He and others say the county’s mix of jobs in manufacturing, health, education, government, trade and transportation allows for a softer landing when the national economy slumps, he said.

Clearly, some sectors of the job picture are being hit, Tweedy added. From November 2007 to this past month, retail lost about 900 jobs in Spokane and financial services lost 200 jobs, he said.

“We thought there’d be more of an effect on jobs (from the national economy) than we actually have had,” Tweedy said.

The hit in financial services was fairly minor, compared to other areas. In November, Spokane had 400 fewer construction jobs than in November 2007. “That’s been in residential construction. Commercial construction jobs have held up so far,” he said.