Despite Restrictions, WA Unemployment Remained Stable Though Nov

Charles Woodman
Updated ·2 min read

OLYMPIA, WA — While November did not damage Washington's economy, it didn't continue on the trend of steady improvement the state had seen in the months before.

According to the Employment Security Department's monthly report, released Wednesday, the evergreen state added a total of 100 jobs over November, leaving the state roughly where it was at the end of October, with a 6.0 percent unemployment rate. For comparison, October saw 22,800 jobs added to the economy, and September saw 9,300 before that.

(Employment Security Department)
(Employment Security Department)

The lack of substantial progress can likely be tied to the latest round of COVID-19 restrictions. In mid-November, surging transmission rates forced the state to issue newer, stricter safety guidelines, limiting capacity at stores, banning indoor dining and closing gyms, among other changes. However, ESD economists say the resulting losses in the government sector were largely balanced by gains in the private.

“The government sector job losses almost completely counteracted private sector job gains in November,” said Paul Turek, economist for the department. “However, the rate of improvement in private employment has slowed, and the latest round of COVID restrictions creates the potential for payrolls to decline next month.”

Another notable change was a significant decrease in the state's labor force. In November, Washington had a labor force of 3,839,900 — down 155,400 from the month before. The labor force is the total number of residents over the age of 16, both employed and unemployed. The ESD does not speculate on the cause of the shrinkage, but does note that, from November 2019 to November 2020 the labor force decreased by 106,600. Almost half of that loss was in the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region, which saw the labor force shrink by 48,200.

Related: Inslee Extends Coronavirus Restrictions, Announces Relief Grants

Despite Washington's relative lack of improvement last month, the state continues to fare better than the U.S. at large: though the national unemployment rate dipped slightly over November, it remains higher than Washington's at 6.7 percent. This time last year, the national unemployment rate was 3.5 percent.

Read the ESD's full Monthly Employment Report for November 2020.

This article originally appeared on the Lakewood-JBLM Patch