Published May 2004

Jobless rate below 7%
for first time since late 2001

By Mike Benbow
Herald Business Editor

Snohomish County’s unemployment rate continued to improve in March as nearly 1,000 jobs were added to the local economy, mainly in restaurants, construction sites and retail stores.

The jobless rate dropped three-tenths of a percentage point to 6.9 percent, the state Unemployment Security Department reported. That’s the first time the county rate has slipped below 7 percent since December 2001.

The improvement was slightly better than the statewide results. Washington unemployment dropped one-tenth of a percentage point in March, to 6.1 percent.

“The first quarter of 2004 has looked pretty good,” said Kirsta Glenn, chief economist for the department, noting that the state’s unemployment rate has fallen steadily since December, when it hit 7.3 percent.

“If the nation is able to create jobs in April like it did in March, we’re going to be pretty hopeful,” Glenn said.

Donna Thompson, the department’s Snohomish County labor economist, called the March results a continuation of the slow improvement in the local economy. She said the 1,000 additional jobs brought the total positions to 214,300 in the county.

“Unfortunately, the improvements to the economy may look better on paper than in reality for local job seekers,” she said. “Even though there was an increase of 1,000 nonfarm jobs, there are still 2,300 fewer jobs than there were a year ago.”

Thompson noted that 900 of the new jobs are in service sectors, where the average wage is considerably lower than it is in the goods-producing sectors.

“There is a lot of competition for the jobs that do become available, with 24,200 people seeking work throughout the county,” she said.

Construction added 100 jobs in March, retail stores added 200 workers, and restaurants and bars added 400 more. The aerospace sector, which added 100 jobs in February, remained flat at 21,600 jobs in March. That’s a 10.6 percent drop from this time last year.

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