Adams County unemployment rates up for May 2020
OLYMPIA — The layoffs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic brought an increase in the unemployment rate in Adams County during May 2020. While April 2020 numbers showed a rise in unemployment, it was not as high as May 2020, which recorded an unemployment rate of 12.2 percent. The unemployment for April 2020 was 9.1 percent.
According to Donald W. Meseck, regional economist for the Employment Security Department, Adams County was unusual in that the unemployment rate continued to rise in May 2020, instead of declining like other counties in the state. Meseck said that statewide, the height of the COVID-19 layoffs was in April. However, COVID-19 layoffs in Adams County continued in May.
“I think it had to do with the fact that COVID-19 related layoffs hit later,” Meseck said. “Adams County may have bottomed out with job losses in May versus April.”
Adams County also lost nonfarm jobs during May 2020, when compared with May 2019. In May 2019, the number of jobs was 6,020. In May 2020, that dropped to 5,450 jobs. The number of nonfarm jobs in April 2020 was 5,500. All employment sectors added jobs from April 2020 to May 2020, except government, which lost 100 jobs, and some service sectors, which lost 70 jobs.
Meseck said that 90 percent of the government jobs in Adams County are in local government. He thinks that the job losses were mainly in local public school jobs, such as bus drivers, cafeteria workers and other non-teaching jobs, as well as ambulatory health care jobs, such as chiropractors and dental personnel.
The number of people able to work, or civilian labor force, whether employed or unemployed, also dropped. In May 2019, there were 10,022 people in the civilian labor force. In April 2020, that number dropped to 9,914 and to 9,438 in May 2020.
“It is an estimate of residents in Adams County ages 16-plus,” Meseck said. “This is not where they work, but their place of residence.”
While the May 2020 unemployment rate is the worst that Adams County has seen in the past few years, it is lower than the state unemployment rate of 14.8 percent. The highest unemployment rate that Adams County has seen during the month of May was in 1990 when the unemployment rate was 15.0 percent, according to Meseck. The highest recorded unemployment rate was 26.9 percent in January 1993.
“I think years ago, the workforce was more seasonal,” Meseck said. “Agriculture is not as seasonal as it used to be.”
The year 1993 also had the highest annual average unemployment rate at 15.3 percent. By comparison, 2018 averaged 5.6 percent unemployment, with 2019 at 5.7 percent.
The state has also released the agricultural and production employment numbers, known as covered employment, for 2019.
“This is probably one of the bright spots of the local economy,” Meseck said.
The data released in June 2020 reported that there were 8,932 agricultural jobs in 2019 compared to 6,771 jobs in 2009. Agriculture jobs currently account for 34.0 percent of the total jobs in Adams County.
“What this is showing is that the local agricultural industry has been growing in relative importance in the Adams County economy,” Meseck said. “Every year, the number of ag jobs has risen. That’s good news.”
The total amount of covered employment wages has also increased in the past ten years. In 2009, the total amount of wages paid was $210.8 million. In 2019, that number was $357.7 million. The agricultural payroll, a subset of the covered employment wages, jumped from $35.8 million in 2009 to $96.5 million in 2019.
“If someone wants to ask how the ag sector is doing, it is doing very good,” Meseck said. “Ag is rising. Over one-third of all jobs in Adams County are in agriculture. That is a huge increase.”
Rachal Pinkerton may be reached via email at rpinkerton@suntribunenews.com.