Published January 2002

Unemployment in state, county continues to climb

By Mike Benbow
Herald Economy Editor

The jobless rates for Snohomish County and the state as a whole took another big leap in November, the state Employment Security Department reported.

Unemployment for the county climbed half a percentage point to 6.3 percent, while the number of those out of work rose to 6.8 percent statewide.

The increases, while major, were less than in October, when economic fallout from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks caused the county rate to jump by a full percentage point and the statewide rate to climb by 0.7 percent. However, the worst may be yet to come.

The November jobless numbers don’t reflect the first wave of layoffs from the Boeing Co., which ended work for 7,000 people in the Puget Sound area Dec. 14. More Boeing workers received layoff notices in December, and the company plans to cut 20,000 jobs in the area by July.

“The increase reflects the weakening in our economy that began early this year and continued after the events of Sept. 11,” said Sylvia Mundy, State Employment Security Commissioner. “This is the first increase in the state’s seasonally adjusted November jobless rate since 1995.”

Even without the Boeing cutbacks, the state’s economy has lost 38,000 jobs since January, 35,000 of them in the greater Seattle area, which includes Snohomish County, said labor economist Roberta Pauer.

“This is what a recession is, job supply that loses ground month after month in virtually every sector,” Pauer said. “We haven’t had a recession in so long I think we have forgotten what it was like.”

In November, the state lost 2,400 jobs, a time when employment typically grows because of holiday work in retail stores. Indeed, employment in retail trade did rise by 7,100 jobs in November. But losses in manufacturing, construction, wholesale trade and services all resulted in a net loss of jobs.

“The outlook for the future is more of the same,” Pauer said. “A worsening labor market, a weakening of the economy, until the end of next summer at the earliest.”

If airlines don’t rebound, the recession could last far longer, Pauer said.

In Snohomish County, which has an estimated work force of 344,700, an estimated 21,700 people were without jobs.

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