December 2015 employment numbers better than 2014

MOSES LAKE — Unemployment dropped more that a full percentage point between December 2014 and December 2015. But unemployment traditionally drops in the summer and increases in the fall, and it followed that trend in 2015 with unemployment in December 2015 higher than in November 2015.

The “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate was 9.4 percent in December 2015, compared with 10.5 percent in December 2014. The Grant County unemployment rate was 7.1 percent in November 2015.

“The last time a December unemployment rate was this low in Grant County was eight years ago, in December 2007, when the rate was 7.9 percent,” wrote Donald Meseck, regional labor economist for the Washington Employment Security Department.

But Grant County job growth in 2015 lagged behind the rest of the state, Meseck said. Grant County provided 400 new nonfarm jobs in 2015, about 1.4 percent, half the state’s 2.8 percent job growth. Even though unemployment went down in 2015, the county had fewer jobs in December 2015 than they did in December 2014. Overall, jobs went from 29,080 in December 2014 to 28,330 in December 2015.

According to preliminary estimates, nonfarm employers provided 750 fewer jobs in December 2015 than December 2014, Meseck said. The manufacturing sector lost jobs in 2015, Meseck said. “This recent slowdown in manufacturing employment has been centered in non-durable goods manufacturing, primarily in food processing, which registered year-over-year job losses in October, November and December 2015.”

The “mining, logging and construction” sector, which is mostly construction in Grant County, also shed jobs in 2015, he said. The construction sector lost about 140 jobs year-over-year, a contraction of about 11.8 percent. Retail employment in Grant County posted year-over-year gains between March and November, before dropping in December. It was also lower than December 2014.

The professional and business services sector saw a substantial contraction year-over-year. There were 1,480 jobs in professional and business services jobs in December 2015, compared with 1,920 in December 2014, a 22.9 percent decrease.

A 10-year analysis, 2004 to 2014, of agricultural employment and production also was included in the December report.

The report analyzes data for employees covered under the Washington Employment Security Act. Total covered employment in agriculture rose 22.3 percent during the decade, Meseck wrote. Total agricultural employment rose 3.9 percent. The agricultural payroll almost doubled, from $134.6 million in 2004 to $263 million in 2014, a 95.3 percent increase. “In 2004 Grant County’s agricultural industry accounted for 16.4 percent of total covered wages (in the county). In 2014 agricultural wages accounted for 18.9 percent of total covered payroll countywide. Hence, agricultural wages rose 2.5 percentage points in Grant County during the past 10 years.”