State Jobless Rate Climbs To 6.5% Upward Movement Reflects ‘Normal Seasonal Pullback’

Seasonal retrenchment in agriculture, construction and tourism boosted Washington’s jobless rate from 5.9 percent to 6.5 percent in November, state Employment Security Commissioner Vernon Stoner announced Wednesday.

“The upward movement reflected a normal seasonal pullback,” Stoner said. However, seasonal retail hiring that usually offsets losses in food processing and other industries did not reach expected levels, he said.

The state’s seasonally adjusted rate rose slightly from 6.3 percent to 6.5 percent, just less than a percentage point above the 5.6 percent national average.

Spokane County’s unemployment rate in November was 5.4 percent, up slightly from October’s revised figure of 5.1 percent and up from 5 percent for November 1994.

Fred Walsh, Employment Security’s regional labor economist, said the area’s unemployment typically increases from October to November, with weather governing the amount of the increase.

This year, mild weather in November allowed the construction and outdoor services industries to keep working a little longer.

For November, in a work force pool of 198,200, 187,400 were employed in the Spokane metropolitan area while 10,800 were unemployed.

Seasonally adjusted rates are not available for individual counties.

Statewide, non-farm wage and salary employment grew by 7,700 workers in November, in line with the average of the past several years. Manufacturing fell by 2,600 workers, with food processing off 2,900 and forest products down 400.

Construction payrolls dropped by 4,900. Services employment also fell, with 600 fewer jobs.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Map: County-by-county monthly unemployment rates