Washington Jobless Rate Dips Unexpected January Decline Reflects Job Growth At Boeing

Washington’s unemployment rate fell two-tenths of a percentage point to 6.2 percent in January, an unexpected decline and the lowest for the month since 1990.

“A sharp speed-up in the economy, which began late last year, carried forward into the new year,” Employment Security Commissioner Carver Gayton said Tuesday in a news release.

“This is not typical for January and indicates real growth in the economy. Job growth was well above the national average during the 12-month period ending in January,” he said.

As a result, the seasonally adjusted rate fell from 6.3 percent to 5.3 percent, registering below the national average of 5.4 percent for the first time since mid-1992.

Boeing was a principal driver of the unusual December-to-January decline in the unemployment rate as the company added workers in its Puget Sound facilities to meet growing aircraft orders.

Most other areas of the state, though, including Spokane, showed the growth in unemployment that is typical for the December-January transition.

Spokane’s unemployment rate was 6.1 percent during January, up slightly from December’s revised 5.9 percent and down from 7 percent in January 1996.

Fred Walsh, regional labor economist with the Employment Security Department, warned, though, that the local January rate will probably be higher when the figures are revised next month.

“Usually the initial figures and the revised figures don’t differ that much,” Walsh said, “but they have been revised upward for January quite a bit over the last several years.”

Walsh pointed out that January and February are typically Spokane’s highest unemployment months.

In an eligible work force of 201,200, 188,900 were employed in Spokane during the month and 12,300 did not have jobs. That contrasts significantly with January of 1996 when 14,100 workers did not have jobs here. But as Walsh said, the 1997 unemployment number will probably prove to be higher than the initial figures indicate.

In the state, Whitman County had the lowest rate for the month at 2.4 percent. Pend Oreille had the highest at 19.9 percent.

Nonfarm wage and salary employment fell seasonally by 55,500 workers, decisively less than the 64,000 average over the past four years. Manufacturing employment dropped 2,500 workers. Lumber and wood products fell 400. Food processing dropped by 900.

“The one significant counter to this trend was a 1,400-worker gain in aircraft and parts,” said Dennis Fusco, chief economist for the department. “This boosts the January total to 97,400, up almost a quarter from the low in December 1995.”

Construction payrolls dropped by 7,600 workers. Post-Christmas layoffs drove wholesale and retail trade down by 27,000.

Services employment fell by 10,100 compared with 12,400 last year, with decreases in business services, educational services, and health care. The public sector also pulled back with a 1,600-worker loss in federal payrolls and 2,100 in local government administration.

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