Spokane County jobless rate steady

Spokane County’s April jobless rate held steady at 5.9 percent, exactly where it was a month earlier, according to data released Tuesday by the Washington state Employment Security Department.

Because more workers entered the work force during April, the unemployment rate stayed the same, even though a total of 1,400 new nonfarm jobs were created in Spokane during the month compared with March, according to the state’s preliminary data.

In April 2004, Spokane County had a 6.5 percent unemployment rate, a large decline from 7.9 percent in March of 2004.

Statewide, Washington’s economy continued to add jobs in April, but due to the sharp rise in labor force participation, the overall unemployment rate for April was 5.5 percent compared with 5.2 percent in March, said Employment Security Commissioner Karen Lee.

The nation’s unemployment rate was 5.2 percent, unchanged from March. Jobless rates for Spokane and the state are not adjusted for seasonal variations.

Spokane County’s largest job growth occurred in the construction trades, where total workers grew by about 700 from March, said Jeff Zahir, the state’s regional economist for Eastern Washington.

One year earlier, from March to April, Spokane saw a net gain of 600 construction jobs, the state determined.

The largest decline in Spokane, by industry, was the loss of about 100 jobs during April in the public-local government group, said Zahir.

Depending on which tracking system used, Spokane County in April had either 204,300 or 211,300 people at work.

The first number, considered the nonfarm wage and salary group, is determined through surveys of employers. The second, larger number is called the civilian labor force, and is found through household surveys.

The two numbers are used together to track job growth, said Zahir, with the civilian labor force the key data used for determining the jobless rate.

“A robust economy encouraged more than 18,000 Washingtonians to join the labor force last month,” Lee said in a press release.

Statewide during April, Washington’s job gains were mostly in construction (up 4,500) and manufacturing (up 1,200). Natural resources and mining employment were flat during April, according to the state Employment Security Department.

Government was one of just two statewide industries to show a slight decrease (down 300 jobs from March). Information jobs also slipped by 400 as weakness in telecommunications continued to offset modest gains in software, according to a state press release.