Grant County unemployment rate declines

MOSES LAKE — Unemployment in Grant County dropped between June 2020 and June 2021, and between May and June 2021, but the county’s economy may not be recovering as fast from the COVID-19 outbreak as the state’s economy.

Unemployment dropped from 8.7% in June 2020 to 5.5% in June 2021, and is down from 5.8% in May 2021.

Don Meseck, regional labor economist with the Washington State Employment Security Department, wrote in a release Grant County’s economy is recovering at a slower rate than the state’s. But the slower recovery may be a sign Grant County’s economy weathered the pandemic better than the statewide economy, he wrote.

“Some of this disparity in job growth rates may be because Grant County’s economy was not hit as hard as Washington’s economy, in terms of job-loss rates, last year,” Meseck wrote.

Statewide unemployment numbers from April to June 2021 are being compared with the same period in 2020, when statewide job losses were severe, Meseck wrote. Job losses in Grant County weren’t as bad during those three months in 2020, he wrote.

Grant County’s economy lost 470 jobs in 2020, a 1.5% downturn, less than Washington’s 5.3% loss rate during 2020, according to the release.

Grant County lost jobs in 2020, when measured year over year. And it lost jobs from June 2020 to June 2021, he wrote. There was slight gain in jobs, less than 1%, from May 2020 to May 2021.

“It (county employment) shrank, year over year, in each of the 13 consecutive months from April 2020 to April 2021. Hence, it is safe to generalize that Grant County’s labor economy has been struggling since the start of COVID-19-related layoffs in April of last year,” Meseck wrote.

Grant County’s construction sector was very active throughout 2020, but it’s been slowing down since March.

“Estimates indicate that year over year employment in Grant County’s construction industry has declined the past four months, March through June 2021,” Meseck wrote.

The county’s manufacturing sector has struggled, and that struggle continues. The manufacturing sector lost 510 jobs from June 2020 to June 2021 and has lost jobs, year over year, from July 2019 to June 2021. Most of the job losses have been from the county’s durable goods manufacturers.

However, the rate of job losses in that sector has been decelerating, Meseck wrote.

Nondurable goods manufacturers have fared better, losing 10 jobs in 2020 on an average annual basis.