County jobless rate makes small decline

Spokane County’s jobless rate inched downward slightly in April, falling to 5.5 percent from 5.6 in March, the state Employment Security Department said Tuesday.

Spokane County’s March-to-April swing is small and matches the general seasonal pattern, said William Dillingham, the department’s regional labor economist. In April, Spokane County had 201,500 jobs, up from 198,900 the previous month, Dillingham said.

March and April usually see some growth in jobs related to construction, natural resources and hospitality, he said.

Statewide, Washington’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased slightly to 6.3 percent in April, up two-tenths of a percent from 6.1 percent in March. With seasonal gains accounted for, Washington saw a net increase of 21,700 jobs during April.

Nationwide, the unemployment rate for April was 5.4 percent, down from 6.0 percent in March. Oregon, saddled with the highest jobless rate in the country, fell from 7.2 percent to 6.7 percent in April.

While Spokane saw little real change in employment from March to April, Dillingham said the major news continues to be the large job gain from one year ago. From April 2003 to April 2004, Spokane County gained about 2,600 nonfarm jobs, he said.

Of those, about 1,000 are construction jobs. “That matches what we see on the street,” he added. “I’d be surprised or saddened if we didn’t see that number up that much, since there’s so much construction going on around here.”

Over the past 12 months statewide, Washington has added 48,400 jobs, state officials said. All major sectors except manufacturing have added jobs over the past year.

Ferry County had the worst jobless rate in the state, at 16.2 percent. Whitman County had the lowest unemployment rate, at 1.8 percent.