Grant County unemployment up between June and July

MOSES LAKE – Unemployment in Grant County shot up eight-tenths of one percent between July 2015 and July 2016, although it rose much less, three-tenths of one percent, between June and July 2016.

Grant County’s unemployment rate was 6.5 percent in July, compared with 5.7 percent in July 2015. That’s up from 6.2 percent in June 2016.

“The civilian labor force contracted modestly between the Julys of 2015 and 2016 while the number of unemployed expanded strongly during this timeframe, propelling the rate upward,” wrote Don Meseck, regional labor economist with the Washington Employment Security Department in Yakima.

That followed an eight-tenths of one percent increase between June 2015 and June 2016. The unemployment rate was 5.4 percent in June 2015.

“Nonfarm employment has declined, year over year, for the past 10 months, October 2015 through July 2016,” Meseck wrote. Grant County’s job market provided 28,880 jobs in July 2016, an 870-job decrease from July 2015. That’s a 2.9 percent drop.

The county’s labor force lost 653 people between July 2015 and July 2016, Meseck wrote. But the number of unemployed rose from 2,717 in July 2015 to 3,077 in July 2016, “meaning that 360 more Grant County residents were out of work this July than in July 2015.”

The county’s manufacturing sector was among those with the biggest job losses between July 2015 and July 2016, Meseck said. The durable goods sector lost 470 jobs, a 19.4 percent decrease, between July 2015 and July 2016. The durable goods manufacturing sector has lost jobs over the past nine months, November 2015 through July 2016. That follows a statewide trend – the manufacturing sector has been losing jobs in Washington although the decline, 2.8 percent between July 2015 and July 2016, not as severe as Grant County’s, Meseck said. The durable goods manufacturing sector lost a reported 50 jobs between June and July 2016.

The construction sector also lost jobs, 100 jobs between July 2015 and July 2016, a drop of 7.4 percent. “The local construction industry has been registering year-over-year employment losses for the past 15 months, May 2015 through July 2016,” Meseck said.

The heaviest job losses, year over year, were in the professional and business services sector. It’s “the umbrella industry of businesses that support other businesses,” Meseck said. That sector has shed 350 jobs between July 2015 and July 2016, a drop of 19.8 percent.

The leisure and hospitality industry added jobs, growing by 180 jobs when measured year over year, about 6.9 percent. The “transportation, warehousing and utilities” sector added 20 jobs between the two Julys, and retail trade added 80 jobs, a 2.4 percent increase.

Source: Employment Security Department/LMPA; U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS)