Washington state’s unemployment rate has risen slightly to 5.3 percent after sitting at 5.2 percent for the past two months.
Despite the rate increase, from October to November of this year, the state added 10,100 new nonfarm jobs, on a preliminary, seasonally-adjusted basis, according to an employment report out today from the Employment Security Department (ESD).
The report showed the greatest job growth in the professional and business services (+3,600) and construction (+3,100) industries.
“All in all, Washington enjoyed strong job growth this month, demonstrating continued optimism in the marketplace,” said Paul Turek, Washington’s state labor economist.
Five other industries experienced job gains in the month of November:
- Leisure and hospitality (+2,700)
- Government (+1,300)
- Retail trade (+1,110)
- Transportation, warehousing and utilities (+1,000); and
- Wholesale trade (+800).
Education and health services and other services experienced the greatest job losses with reductions of 1,400 and 1,600 jobs respectively.
Year-over-year, 12 of the 13 major industries experienced job growth. The mining and logging industries lost approximately 100 jobs.
The top five industry sectors with the largest employment gains from November 2014 to November 2015, not seasonally adjusted, were:
- Leisure and hospitality with 13,700 new jobs;
- Retail trade with 13,600 new jobs;
- Professional and business services with 13,100 new jobs;
- Government with 9,600 new jobs.
- Construction with 8,700 new jobs.
