Spokane Jobless Rate Dips To 4.8% Statewide Unemployment Falls To Lowest Level So Far This Year

Unemployment in Spokane County dropped to 4.8 percent in September, well below the state and national rates.

The September rate represents an improvement from a rate of 4.9 percent in August but is up from 4.3 percent in September 1994.

Statewide, unemployment dropped four-tenths of a point to 5.4 percent in September after an unusual rise in August due to harvest delays, Employment Security Commissioner Vernon Stoner announced Tuesday. “This is the lowest rate for the year to date,” he said.

Seasonally adjusted, the rate for September was 6.4 percent compared with a national rate of 5.6 percent, Stoner said. Seasonally adjusted rates for individual counties were not available.

In Spokane, Fred Walsh, regional labor economist for the Employment Security Department, noted in his report that the September rate was the combination of a usual September increase in education employment and an unusual 1.8 percent decline in manufacturing employment.

The report indicates, though, that some of the loss in manufacturing merely may represent a shift in sector categories.

Walsh attributed an increase in the business services sector to “the temporary-help sector’s participation in electronic manufacturing’s resurgence locally.” The temporary-help employees are recorded in the “services” category, although they may be doing manufacturing work.

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