Pacific County’s unemployment rate fell to close to 6% last month, according to initial figures released last week by the Washington State Employment Security Department.

Monthly data from the state agency estimated that the local unemployment rate was 6.2% in March, down from 7.6% in February and 7.1% the previous year. It’s the lowest jobless rate for the county in the month of March dating back to at least 1990, ahead of the 6.5% mark in March 2023.

The county’s unemployment rate ranked 32nd overall out of Washington’s 39 counties for the month, just ahead of neighboring Wahkiakum County’s 6.3% but slightly behind Grays Harbor County’s 6%. Ferry County, as it almost always does, had the worst unemployment rate in the state, with the northeastern county checking in at 8.2%.

Statewide, the unemployment rate checked in at 4.5% in March, down from 5% in February and 4.7% the previous year. Fifteen counties had a jobless rate at or below 4.5%, led by Asotin County’s 3.2% in the southeastern corner of the state.

An estimated 6,280 people in Pacific County were employed in nonfarm jobs in March, up 0.3% from February and 1.6% from the year prior. The figures exclude farm workers, private household employees, business owners and those employed by nonprofits. It’s the highest total number of employed nonfarm workers in the county for the month of March since at least 2000.

Year-over-year improvement was almost entirely due to a surge in the public sector workforce. There were 1,940 people working in government jobs in the county this March — the vast majority of which are employed by the county, cities or other local taxing districts — which is up 5.4% from 1,840 in March 2024.

Employment in another key local industry, leisure and hospitality, was down 1.1% from a year ago, decreasing slightly from 910 to 900 workers. The retail workforce saw its ranks swell by 5.9% year-over-year, increasing from 680 to 720.

Jobs in mining, logging and construction were up 7.1%, increasing from 420 workers in March 2024 to 450 this past month. Manufacturing jobs decreased year-over-year from 710 to 700, a loss of 1.4%.