Washington to release August jobs numbers

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington officials are preparing to release details on the state’s employment situation in August.

The information from the Employment Security Department on Wednesday comes after recent months showed conflicting signals about the economy. The number of jobs has grown for 11 consecutive months but the unemployment rate has grown from 8.8 percent in March to 9.3 percent in July.

The unemployment rate had fallen through much of 2010 after hitting a peak of 10 percent at the beginning of last year.

State economic forecasters have lowered their growth projections for the rest of this year. Lawmakers are now closely watching economic indicators, especially a new revenue forecast due to be released Thursday.