Washington, Idaho jobless rates fall again

Conflicting data continues to cloud Washington’s economic outlook and jobless rates. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics said today that unemployment dropped to 8.5 percent in December from 8.7 percent in November. Those numbers are based on household surveys. At the same time, a survey of Washington businesses shows that the employers shed 10,700 jobs from November to December. Despite the confusion, officials with the Washington Employment Security Department report that the overall trend is gradual growth in jobs and falling unemployment. Leading the job growth is education and health services, with 2,200 more jobs in December; manufacturing, with 2,100 new jobs; 1,100 in aerospace; and 500 in warehousing, transportation and utilities. The report showed that 4,300 jobs were lost in professional and business services; 3,500 in retail; 3,200 in leisure and hospitality; 1,900 in construction; and 1,200 in government. The report showed that 297,430 people in Washington were looking for jobs in December. As of mid-January, 71,141 people had exhausted their unemployment benefits. County and city data are set to be released next week. In Idaho: The jobless rate in Idaho dipped to 8.4 percent in December, down a full percentage point from a year earlier, according the Idaho Department of Labor. There were 698,000 Idahoans working in December, the most since March 2009. Economists said that job growth during the final three months of 2011 was strongest since the economic expansion began to wane in 2007. The better December numbers mark the fifth straight month that Idaho’s unemployment rate has fallen. The release of local unemployment rates was delayed as wintry weather disrupted businesses and data gathering efforts. Despite the better numbers, the department said there are roughly three unemployed workers for every open job posting – pointing to the difficulty some employers have expressed in finding workers with the right skills.