Jobless Rate Drops To 5 Percent Warmer Weather Contributes To Improvement In Labor Market

Washington’s unemployment rate dropped more than half a percentage point in April from 5.6 percent to 5.0 percent, Commissioner Carver Gayton said Tuesday. It was the lowest reading in April since 1990 and one-and-a-half percentage points below last year.

“Seasonal strength in construction, agriculture, trade, and services accounted for much of the improvement with further strong gains in basic manufacturing,” Gayton said. “Our seasonally adjusted rate inched up slightly to 5.1 percent while the national average drifted lower from 5.2 percent to 4.9 percent.”

Spokane’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.7 percent in April, from a March revised rate of 5.7 percent. The April 1996 unemployment rate was 5.6 percent.

Although those appear to be dramatic declines, Fred Walsh, Employment Security’s regional labor economist, says a sharp decline between March and April is typical of the Spokane economy as the good weather begins to kick in.

In fact, Walsh said, this year’s drop of a full percentage point represents a smaller decline than the March-April decline in either 1996 or 1995.

Walsh suspects that flooding conditions are keeping this year’s rate from going down even further.

During April, 190,900 people in Spokane’s work force of 200,400 were employed.

Statewide, total nonfarm employment jumped by 17,900 workers, 2,000 more than last April’s increase.

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