Washington’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell two-tenths of a percentage point to 6.8 percent in November, Employment Security Commissioner Sylvia P. Mundy announced Tuesday.

The nation’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell by one-tenth of a percentage point to 5.9 percent. Washington’s non-adjusted unemployment rate rose by two-tenths of a percentage point to 6.8 percent.

“We are all waiting for a clear signal of a turning point in the labor market,” Mundy said. “Washington has only seen two months of decline in its unemployment rate and job growth remains slow. The state does seem to be following the nation, which has a somewhat firmer recovery bolstered by four months of modest job creation.”

Washington’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased over the month by 3,600. There were seasonal layoffs in construction (3,800), manufacturing (3,900), and leisure and hospitality (5,500). There was also continued weakness in wholesale trade (900), transportation, warehousing, and utilities (700), and information (100). Professional and business services is down 600 jobs over the month, after growing earlier in the year.

An important sub-sector in this industry, employment services, or temporary help agencies, is up 400 jobs over the month. Temporary help agencies are often one of the first industries to begin to add jobs in a labor market recovery and this sector has had ten consecutive months of job increases. Other positive news includes seasonal hiring in retail trade (8,300) and government (9,600), where education related hiring continued. State government educational services were up 1,500 jobs, and local government educational services were up 4,100 jobs. Other local government also increased by 3,700 jobs. Health and educational services continued with normal hiring levels, up 1,400 jobs, and financial activities was up 100 over the month.
Over-the-year jobs in Washington were up 2,000 since November 2002.

While Washington managed to post over-the-year job increases for the first six months of 2003, over-the-year job losses re-emerged in July and August. Over-the-year job increases returned in October. Manufacturing remains the weakest sector, down 14,400, with aerospace accounting for about two-thirds of that decline. Other sectors losing jobs over the year include wholesale trade (200), transportation, warehousing, and utilities (900), and information (1,100).

Sectors creating jobs over the year include construction (4,800), retail trade (2,200), financial activities (6,100), professional and business services (100), education and health services (4,300), leisure and hospitality (600), and government (100). The jobs gains in government were all in local government other than education.

PIERCE COUNTY
The Tacoma metropolitan area (Pierce County) unemployment rate has improved relative to the statewide rate of 6.8 percent. Tacoma’s rate of 7.1 percent is 0.3 above the statewide rate, but remains 1.5 points above the comparable rate for the United States.

The start of the school season, and hiring for Christmas retail activity typically boost employment at this time of year, even as some construction employment wanes during the rainy weather of late fall. (Construction of the second Tacoma Narrows Bridge, along with other major projects, is continuing year-round, abating some of the seasonal job loss.)

National economic trends, which have been strongly positive recently, also should be reflected in the local economy, with healthy retail and service sectors backed by stable federal government payrolls through the end of the year.