Payroll employment ticked up in June; unemployment remained at 4.9% – The Suburban Times

Washington’s economy added an estimated 7,100 jobs (seasonally adjusted), and the June unemployment rate remained at 4.9% for the second month in a row.

“The unemployment rate has been climbing slowly over the past several months but held steady over the month and has remained below 5% since summer 2021,” said Anneliese Vance-Sherman, chief labor economist for the Employment Security Department. “Washington businesses collectively added about 7,000 new jobs in June — with a great deal of variation by industry.”

Employment Security paid unemployment benefits to 57,888 people in June, a decrease of 3,449 over the previous month. Decreases in paid claims in the following industries helped contribute to the decrease:

• Agriculture.
• Construction.

Visit Employment Security’s website to view the entire Monthly Employment Report for June 2024.

Updated state preliminary data for May 2024

• The preliminary estimated gain of 16,000 jobs was revised to a gain of 16,300 jobs.
• The seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment rate was confirmed at 4.9%.

National unemployment rate

The national unemployment rate increased from 4.0% in May to 4.1% in June. For comparison, the national unemployment rate (revised) for June 2023 was 3.6%.

Labor force showed little change

From May to June 2024, the number of people who were unemployed statewide decreased slightly from 195,546 to 195,191. In the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region, the number of people who were unemployed increased from 76,191 to 77,762 over the same period.

The state’s labor force in June stood at 4,019,076 – an increase of 2,342 people from the previous month. In the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region, the labor force decreased by 4,393 people during the same period.

Labor force is defined as the total number of people, both employed and unemployed, over the age of 16. Layoffs and labor force participation are not necessarily connected. When people are laid off but still seeking work, they remain a part of the labor force. A drop in the labor force means people have left work and haven’t been actively seeking employment for more than four weeks.

Eight major industry sectors expanded, four contracted from May to June

Private sector employment increased by 6,600 jobs from May to June. Government employment increased by 500 jobs.

The largest sector-level gains in private industry were in construction (up 2,400 jobs), professional and business services (up 1,800 jobs), and other services (up 1,400 jobs).

• The largest gains in the construction sector were for specialty trade contractors (up 1,500 jobs).
• The highest one-month gains in professional and business services were in professional, scientific and technical services (up 2,000 jobs).
• Gains in the other services sector (up 1,400) were in every industry captured in this report. The largest gains were in repair and maintenance (up 600).

Four sectors saw decreases in employment: information (down 200); retail trade (down 300); education and health services (down 400); and manufacturing (down 1,100).

Annual employment growth appears in public and private industries

Washington gained an estimated 51,000 jobs from June 2023 to June 2024 (not seasonally adjusted). During that time, private sector employment rose 1.1%, increasing by 32,200 jobs. Public sector employment grew 3.1%, increasing by an estimated 18,800 jobs.

The three industry sectors with the largest employment gains year over year (not seasonally adjusted) were:

• Education and health services, up 22,800 jobs.
• Government, up 18,800 jobs.
• Professional and business services, up 5,400 jobs.

Two industry sectors reporting the biggest employment losses year over year (not seasonally adjusted) were:

• Information, down 7,300 jobs.
• Retail trade, down 4,100 jobs.

Table 1: Washington’s total jobs

*Revised from previous preliminary estimates. Preliminary monthly estimates for job losses or gains are based on a small Bureau of Labor Statistics payroll survey. Actual figures reported the following month are based on a more complete survey.        

Table 2: June job gains and losses by industry

Labor market information

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