Spokane7
59°
January 21, 2012 in Business
Unemployment rate drops in both Washington, Idaho
But Evergreen State businesses report cutting 10,700 jobs
Kootenai County’s unemployment rate dropped half a percentage point in December to 9.8 percent – breaking a string of 19 months in which the jobless rate was stuck in double digits.
Idaho’s unemployment rate dipped to 8.4 percent in December, down a full percentage point from a year earlier, according to the Idaho Department of Labor. There were 698,000 Idahoans working in December, the most since March 2009.
Economists said job growth during the final three months of 2011 was the strongest since the economic expansion began to wane in 2007.
In Washington, meanwhile, conflicting data clouds the economic outlook and jobless rates.
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday 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 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.
Some details:
Idaho: The better December numbers in 27 of the state’s 44 counties mark the fifth straight month that Idaho’s overall unemployment rate has fallen.
Despite the better numbers, the state Department of Labor 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.
Washington: 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 Employment Security Department says 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.
Parishes giving $1.5 million toward settling sex cases 
hunternomore on January 21 at 9:20 a.m.
Hm, you can tell there’s an election coming up
JBlim on January 21 at 9:35 a.m.
Bad news for Republicans, except in Idaho where they can try to claim credit.
citizenX on January 21 at 9:56 a.m.
This news is “whatever” for Idaho. With it’s one party rule, a 1/2% unemployment drop in Kootenai County, ought to tell it’s citizens to wake up and fire their representative “job creators.”
de3 on January 21 at 11:25 a.m.
This makes no sense:
“At the same time, a survey of Washington businesses shows that 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.”
How do we have a falling number of jobs with gradual growth in jobs at the same time?
de3 on January 21 at 11:49 a.m.
I looked up the State’s numbers for Spokane county.
In November 2010 there were 220,330 people working.
In November 2011 there were 215,520 people working.
The December numbers are not yet available.
If you squint hard you might see 5,000 fewer people working versus the year before and about 15,000 fewer than in 2008.
Spokane’s Nov 2011 number of people working is less than 2008, 2009 and 2010 and it is getting worse every year, year over year.
IHike4Fun on January 21 at 3:53 p.m.
Doesn’t December’s unemployment always go down due to ‘seasonal employment’?
Albert on January 21 at 4:08 p.m.
My friends at the Old Country Buffet on N. Division are now out of work as of yesterday when they closed down. I walk the N. Town Mall and see all the vacancies…the same holds true at the Northpointe Mall. Remember all the Perkins restaurants? How can anyone truly believe this spin? Take a look around town at the shuttered businesses and all of the “former” employees who are now out of work. The only “good stats” are within the union employees with the city and state. No layoffs there good folks.
pmbrown49 on January 21 at 4:09 p.m.
Government statistics are more myth than fact. They use several different databases and indices and you can never be quite sure if things are better, worse or the same.
The most reliable resource is to just look around where you live. If you see that more people appear to be working, buying or fixing up their homes, buying new cars, etc., things are probably getting better to a degree. If you don’t see those things happening, it’s about the same or possibly worse.
Another indicator is how many people are applying for open positions and the qualifications of those individuals. If you see several people applying, things may not be so good. If you see highly overqualified people applying, things may be worse.
greenlibertarian on January 21 at 4:34 p.m.
Fine, don’t believe the government’s numbers,just go on random anecdotal information of what you see around you, sure that’s accurate.
/points, laughs
Fine, you want a private entity data source?
Read more: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-01-05/markets/30592014_1_goods-producing-sector-jobs-report-service-providing-sector#ixzz1k8vAAzrf
jamesbackyard on January 21 at 5:26 p.m.
An Old Country Buffet closed? Next news headline, “Hicks Starve in North Spokane”
pmbrown49 on January 21 at 7:23 p.m.
greenlib, the topic here is LOCAL unemployment. Get on topic!