Grant County employment rate grows

MOSES LAKE — Grant County’s economy may be showing signs of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, which slowed down and in some cases closed businesses in the last 20 months, according to a report Friday from Washington State Employment Security Department.

The unemployment rate for October 2021 was 4.3%, down from 5.8% in October 2020, according to the ESD.

October unemployment, measured year over year, was at its lowest level in more than 30 years, wrote Don Meseck, ESD regional labor economist, in an email.

“Year over year, COVID-19-related layoffs pushed unemployment rates up in Grant County from April through November 2020, but rates have declined from December 2020 to October 2021, except for a slight year-over-year upturn in March 2021,” Meseck wrote. “The unemployment rate for October 2021 was the lowest for the month of October since data began to be recorded electronically in 1990.”

Some of the labor force may have grown.

The number of people in the labor force was dropping, year over year, from February to August 2021, before expanding in September and October. Some of those might be people who are commuting or working remotely, Meseck wrote.

“The Grant County labor force was somewhat larger this October than two years ago, in October 2019 (i.e. pre-COVID times),” Meseck wrote.

And the number of jobs in the county in October 2021 was higher than in October 2019, the last pre-coronavirus pandemic year.

“This indicates that, in aggregate, the local economy has recovered the number of jobs lost during last year’s COVID-19-related layoffs,” Meseck wrote.

But not all sectors of the economy have recovered.

Durable goods manufacturing lost jobs from October 2020 to October 2021, and so did the local transportation and warehousing sector. The professional and business services sector also experienced a slight downturn.

“But almost every other Grant County industry provided significantly more jobs in October 2021 than October 2020,” Meseck wrote.

Employment in retail trade expanded or stabilized, year over year, from June 2020 through October 2021. The leisure and hospitality sector also has been growing, when measured year over year. Employment in that sector expanded between April and October 2021.

Employment in the nondurable goods sector, which in Grant County is mostly food processing, has been increasing the past three months, when measured year over year.