Adams County posts modest employment gains in 2015

RITZVILLE — Unemployment in Adams County in December 2015 dropped 1.2 percent when compared with December 2014, according to data released by the Washington Employment Security Department.

For 2015, employment dropped six-tenths of 1 percent, to 6.9 percent. “The number of unemployed residents dropped dramatically, and total employment rose nominally,” wrote Donald Meseck, regional labor economist based in Yakima.

Nonfarm employment (not seasonally adjusted) in Adams County increased from 5,770 jobs in 2014 to 5,480 in 2015, “a modest 1.2 percent gain,” Meseck said. “Year over year, nonfarm employment in Adams County has either stabilized or increased for the past 24 months, from January 2014 to December 2015."

The county’s labor force did grow in 2015. “But most of this labor force expansion occurred in the first half of 2015. During five of the last six months of 2015 the civilian labor force shrank.”

The labor force decreased from 8,208 residents in December 2014 to 8,136 residents in December 2015, Meseck said. “Fortunately, the number of unemployed fell more rapidly, 12.4 percent, from 872 in December 2014 to 764 in December 2015.”

Adams County lagged behind the statewide average in job growth in 2015, adding 90 more jobs in December 2015 when compared with December 2014, a 1.6 percent increase. That compares to a 2.2 percent job growth statewide in the same period.

The mining, logging and construction sector lost jobs in 2015, he said; in Adams County, those are mostly construction jobs. Year-to-year statistics in manufacturing showed the industry remained stable. But preliminary estimates showed a small job loss in manufacturing in the county, he said.

Wholesale trade employment increased 2.4 percent, while retail trade jobs dropped about 1.6 percent. “Estimates indicate that employment in this industry stagnated in 2015, with year-over-year job growth occurring the first six months versus a general retrenchment in the last six months,” Meseck said.

Jobs in the transportation and warehousing sector remained stable during 2015. So did the health services and private education sector, but they lost jobs in the year-over-year comparison between December 2014 and December 2015.

The government sector expanded by 130 jobs in 2015, Meseck said. That sector includes public schools, police and fire departments and public health care providers. “Since annual average nonfarm employment in Adams County rose only 1.2 percent, or by 70 jobs, between 2014 and 2015, one could generalize government accounted for virtually all local job growth (in Adams County) during 2015,” Meseck wrote.

State officials also conducted a 10-year analysis of agriculture employment statewide, and found total employment in the agriculture sector increased by 12.6 percent between 2004 and 2014. Agriculture’s percentage of the total qualifying wages (what would be covered by unemployment insurance) in Adams County also rose slightly in that period, from 22.4 percent of total covered wages to 23.6 percent, a 1.2 percent increase.