Unemployment up in Grant County in 2016

MOSES LAKE — Unemployment went up in Grant County in 2016, but it dropped a little between December 2015 and December 2016. The Washington Department of Employment Security reported the county’s unemployment rate was 7.5 percent for the entire year 2016, compared to 7.1 percent for all of 2015, according to preliminary figures. The unemployment rate for December 2016 was 9.6 percent, compared with 9.7 percent in December 2015.

“Year over year, the Grant County economy lost jobs from October 2015 to March 2016 before posting gains from April to December 2016,” wrote Don Meseck, regional labor economist for the WESD. “Preliminary employment estimates indicate that between 2015 and 2016 Grant County’s economy provided 340 new nonfarm jobs, an average annual increase of 1.2 percent,” Meseck wrote.

“In December 2016, nonfarm employers provided 28,500 jobs, a 620-job and 2.2 percent increase from the 27,880 recorded in December 2015.”

Unemployment in Grant County follows a seasonal cycle, reaching a peak in January and February and at its lowest in September and October. Unemployment went from 7.3 percent in November 2016 to 9.6 percent in December 2016.

The county’s civilian labor force shrank by 1.8 percent in 2016, Meseck said. “However, this contraction occurred during the first two-thirds of last year, January through August 2016. Since then the local labor force resumed growth (from) September to December.”

Professional and business services sector provided the most new jobs in Grant County when December 2015 is compared with December 2016. The sector provided 410 more jobs in December 2016. “Employment in professional and business services has generally been rebounding in every month from April through December 2016.”

The professional and business services sector is “industries ranging from computer systems design to accounting and tax preparation to management services, legal services,” Meseck wrote.

Wholesale trade, which includes businesses like server farms, added 240 jobs, a 15 percent increase, when the two Decembers are compared. “This industry has been expanding for 11 months.”

The news wasn’t so good in the durable goods manufacturing sector, which lost jobs, when compared year-over-year, for 14 consecutive months, from November 2015 to December 2016. The sector lost 410 jobs when comparing December 2016 with December 2015.

The news was better in the construction sector, which added jobs from August through December. Retail trade added 110 jobs between December 2015 and December 2016. The non-durable goods manufacturing sector also added 110 jobs in the same time frame.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.