Spokane7
50°
November 18, 2010 in Business
Jobless rate eases in Spokane County
Most employment gains were in retail
The unemployment rate in Spokane County slipped to 7.8 percent in October, the lowest rate in almost two years.
The number of employed rose to 220,210, up from 216,960 in September, and 218,850 in October 2009.
But Doug Tweedy, local labor economist for the Washington Employment Security Department, cautioned that the seasonal and part-time jobs captured in the October numbers do not necessarily signal a turnaround in job numbers.
“We’re still well behind where we were in 2008,” he said, noting the county lost 8,000 jobs in 2009. For the first 10 months of this year, unemployment in the county averaged 9.3 percent.
Tweedy said private sector hiring flattened in October, the first time in 2010 that businesses did not increase payroll.
Most of the October job gains were in retailing, he said. The other major contributor was public and private education.
So far in 2010, health care has generated more new jobs than any other sector, adding 2,000.
Tweedy said there are 1,998 job openings posted at the Spokane WorkSource office, up from 1,700 in September and almost double the 1,050 of one year ago.
But after months of decreases, first-time filings for unemployment benefits increased from September to October, he said.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for all of Washington was 9.1 percent, unchanged from a revised figure for September. The national rate was 9.6 percent.
The unadjusted rate for Washington was 8.5 percent. Spokane statistics are not adjusted for season variations.
Caldwell: West Point trained local bankers to survive 
hawken on November 18 at 8:30 a.m.
Short term jobs that will go away in January.
liarsinnews on November 18 at 8:48 a.m.
My guess is the early Christmas celebration by most merchants contributed to the increase. Christmas decorations started to pop up the first part of September for gosh sakes.
Elkay on November 24 at 8:16 a.m.
I’m very conflicted on this.
Being a liberal conservative (no, that’s not an oxymoron), I can’t help but feel very badly about benefits running out for people and families during sub-freezing weather and the holiday season.
But as a business owner, this past year maybe … *Maybe* … 2 in 10 applicants were seriously looking for work. Most of them telephoned or emailed (instead of coming in person, asking for an application). They would ask “Are you hiring? Oh, and what is your name?” in order to satisfy requirements to receive continued benefits they would tell me.
It seemed kind of scammy to me, my employees witnessing it, and other business owners who had the same experience … like that “free money” was a better deal than actually nailing down a less-than-perfect job.
Hopefully the job market will improve soon, and the non-serious job seekers will now look for work in earnest. Sorry if this sounds harsh, I don’t mean for it to, but there IS work out there when one is persistent and serious about finding it.
Elkay on November 24 at 9:14 a.m.
Sorry — I based my opinion on Mr. Caldwell’s front page article of 11/24/10 “Jobless Benefits Ending for Some”.