By Christopher Casillas
The Washington State Employment Security Department released its monthly employment report for Feburary 2013 today, confirming that a recent trend in new jobs and a drop in the unemployment rate is no mirage, and may be gathering steam. The headline numbers indicate that the State, particularly the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett region, is seeing a strong rebound in new jobs, specifically:
- Nonfarm employment increased by an estimated 4,000 jobs from January to February 2013 statewide, on top of a revised gain of 24,200 jobs in January;
- The State unemployment rate held steady from January, at 7.5%, but dropped from 8.4% in February of 2012;
- The Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region experienced a dramatic drop in the unemployment rate, falling to 5.9% in February, well below January’s rate of 6.3% and the 7.4% rate from February of 2012;
- Between February 2012 and February 2013, the State increased the number of new jobs by 65,000, of which 61,000 of those jobs came from the private sector.
The Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region now has an unemployment rate that is 1.6% below the Washington State rate and 1.8% below the national unemployment rate. From January to February, the bulk of the new job creation was centered in three sectors: education and health services, manufacturing, and professional and business services, where 3,000, 2,900, and 1,200 jobs, respectively, were created. Interestingly, government added another 400 jobs in the month, continuing a trend of recent gains in the public sector. For the twelve-month period from February 2012 to 2013, manufacturing lead the hiring surge with an estimated 11,300 new jobs created, with a total nonfarm payroll increase during this period of 65,000.
