Unemployment drops in Grant County in August
Source: Washington State Employment Security Department
YAKIMA — Grant County’s unemployment dropped two-tenths of one percent between August 2017 and August 2018. Unemployment went down one-tenth of one percent between July and August 2018. That’s the lowest August unemployment rate for the county since 2007.
“Between the Augusts of 2017 and 2018 local nonfarm employment rose by 2.3 percent, from 30,140 jobs to 30,840 jobs, a 700-job upturn,” wrote Don Meseck, regional labor economist for the Washington Department of Employment Security. “Year over year, total nonfarm employment in Grant County has been rising for the past eight months, January through August 2018.”
Grant County’s labor force expanded by 392 residents between August 2017 and August 2018. “During this time frame the number of unemployed decreased at a faster pace. There were 72 fewer Grant County residents out of work in August 2018 than August 2017.”
The news was good in the professional and business services sector, which produced 350 jobs between the Augusts of 2017 and 2018, a 17.9 percent increase. That sector covers a lot of economic territory, “a diverse set of niche industries,” Meseck wrote. Those include everything from computer systems design to landscaping, accounting and tax preparation to temporary employment services. Within the sector, “temporary employment services is likely accounting for much of this employment upturn – an encouraging economic indicator.”
Employment in the leisure and hospitality industry has risen, year over year, between May and August. In August that sector provided 2,880 full time and part-time jobs in the county.
The “mining, logging and construction” sector in Grant County mostly means construction jobs. That sector added 120 jobs between August 2017 and August 2018, an 8.3 percent increase.
The news wasn’t so good in the manufacturing sector. The durable goods manufacturing sector lost 300 jobs between the Augusts, down 14.8 percent. The non-durable goods sector lost 110 jobs, a 3.4 percent drop.
Agriculture is still a dominant sector of the county’s economy. Agriculture employment is measured over a 10-year span, and ag employment went up in the decade between 2007 and 2017. The state measures data from employees covered under the Washington Employment Security Act, and covered ag employment rose by 1,878 in the decade.