Local unemployment down near 7% in March

Published 11:47 am Monday, April 29, 2024

Pacific County saw its unemployment rate dip back down to almost 7% in March, according to preliminary estimates from the Washington State Employment Security Department.

The state agency pegged the countywide jobless rate at 7.1% for March as part of its latest monthly report that was released last week, an improvement from February’s 8.4% mark and up from March 2023’s 6.3%.

The county unemployment rate for the month ranked 31st out of Washington’s 39 counties, a better-than-usual result that has persisted in the opening months of 2024. Pacific County had a lower jobless rate than neighboring Grays Harbor (7.8%) and Wahkiakum (8.6%) counties, while Ferry County in the northeastern part of the state had easily the highest unemployment rate in the state at 11.9% — the only county to exceed 9%.

The statewide unemployment rate sat at 5.1% for March, down from 5.6% in February and up from 4.1% a year ago.

Pacific County’s overall labor force hit a more than four-year high in March, with the agency projecting more than 8,800 people in the county were employed or actively looking for work. It’s the most robust labor force for the county since August 2019, 55 months ago.

An estimated 6,130 people were employed in nonfarm jobs for the month, which excludes farm workers, private household employees, proprietors and non-profit employees. That figure is up 1.3% from February and 0.2% from a year ago.

The month-over-month bump was fueled in part by a bump in the retail workforce. Retail jobs increased from 650 in February to 680 in March, a 4.6% gain. Leisure and hospitality jobs also saw a modest bump, up to 940 from 910 the month before — an increase of 3.3%.

All other local industries saw little-to-no change from February to March, according to the estimates.