Spokane Job Growth Flat

Job growth in Spokane during 1999 ended in flat fashion.

The state Employment Security Department reported Tuesday that Spokane County had 190,200 non-agricultural jobs in December. The level is unchanged from December 1998.

In a separate report, the department said unemployment in Spokane was 4.7 percent last month, marking an improvement on the 5.3 percent rate the county posted in December 1998.

But overall, said Fred Walsh, the department’s regional labor economist, “I didn’t see that much growth.”

Total job creation numbers for last year have not yet been tallied. When complete, Walsh expects 1999 will better 1998, perhaps by 1 percent.

Employment in Spokane’s manufacturing and business service sectors dropped during the year. Employment totals also were influenced by the labor dispute Kaiser Aluminum has with its Steelworkers union.

Statewide, Washington’s unemployment rate finished at 4.3 percent in December - an increase of 0.3 percent from the year ago period.

For all of 1999, the state unemployment rate is expected to be about 4.6 percent, the lowest level since 1966.

The department said the job count in aircraft and parts - mainly tied to Boeing - has declined by 19,300 during the year.

As a share of the total state economy, aerospace employment now makes up 3.4 percent, down from 5.3 percent in 1990.

This sidebar appeared with the story:

Jobless rates

These are the December unemployment percentages for selected Washington counties.

Spokane 4.7

Adams 13.3

Asotin 2.3

Benton 5.5

Clark 3.3

Columbia 14.0

Douglas 7.0

Ferry 9.2

Franklin 11.2

Garfield 5.0

Grant 10.2

King 2.7

Lincoln 5.2

Okanogan 10.3

Pend Oreille 8.6

Pierce 4.0

Snohomish 3.7

Stevens 7.9

Walla Walla 6.7

Whitman 1.7

State high Columbia (14.0)

State low Whitman (1.7)