Grant County shows job growth

MOSES LAKE - Jobs in both Grant County's non-farm and agricultural sectors were up this July compared to last July, according to a recent Employment Security Department report.

This July, area non-farm employers provided 27,860 jobs, a 1.1 percent and 290-job increase from the 27,570 jobs available in the county last July. According to the report, this month marks the tenth consecutive month of year-over-year job growth in the non-farm sector.

At the state level, non-farm jobs increased 2.6 percent this July compared to last. The sector provided 2.9 million jobs this July, compared to 2.8 million last July.

Washington's non-farm labor market has been growing for 34 months, according to the report.

"We're not recovering from the recession in the non-farm market at the rate the state has, but we're starting to play catch up," Regional Labor Economist Don Meseck said.

The county's service providing businesses and organizations accounted for all of the year-over-year non-farm job growth, according to the report. That sector reported 370 more jobs this July compared to last July.

The service providing sector includes transportation, warehousing and utilities, information and financial activities and government jobs.

The total number of agricultural jobs in the area also showed year-over-year growth, according to the report. Total agricultural employment in Columbia Basin Area 4 was 16,520 in July 2012 and 20,040 this July, which represents a 21.3 percent and 3,520-job increase.

Columbia Basin Area 4 is an agricultural reporting area that includes both Grant and Adams counties. However, 80 percent of those jobs are on farms and orchards in Grant County, Meseck said.

Although total agricultural employment was up, seasonal agricultural employment was down, he said. Seasonal jobs experienced a 1.2 percent downturn this year, mainly due to decreased cherry work.

"The cherry harvest was smaller this year, and that's the outcome," he said. "But other crops and farming activities have been up."

The county has an unemployment rate of 8 percent, not seasonally adjusted, according to the report. The unemployment rate last July was also 8 percent.

Meseck said that isn't necessarily bad news for the county.

"The unemployment rate is the same as it was last year, but it is still better than it was in July 2012, when it was at 8.6 percent," he said.

This July was the 34th consecutive month of year-over-year decreases, or of no change, in the county's unemployment rate, according to the report.

"When you look at the big picture, you look at 34 months of no change or decreases, that's good," Meseck said.