Grant, Adams Counties add jobs
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 10 years, 3 months AGO
The Sun Tribune News stock
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | June 13, 2016 6:00 AM
YAKIMA — Grant and Adams counties added jobs in 2015, but neither matched the statewide rate of employment growth, according to information from the Washington Employment Security Department.
Don Meseck, regional labor economist, gave a presentation on employment trends in the two counties at a recent meeting of the Columbia Basin Development League.
The news was pretty good for Grant County for 2015, Meseck said, with the county’s average annual unemployment rate at 7.1 percent. That was slightly below the rate in 2005. Unemployment was between 5 and 8 percent between 2005 and 2008.
But from 2009 to 2013, “not seasonally adjusted rates lingered in the 8 to 10 percent range,” Meseck said. Average annual unemployment rates dropped between 2011 and 2015 in Grant County and statewide.
The unemployment rate in Adams County consistently was higher that the state average between 2005 and 2015, with the exception of 2009. But the average annual unemployment rate was 6.8 percent in 2015, the same as the rate in 2005.
Agriculture provides a lot of jobs in both counties. In 2014, the last year for which data is available, the “agriculture, forestry and fishing” sector provided 27.4 percent of the jobs in Grant County and 27.3 percent of the jobs in Adams County.
In both counties that sector is almost all agriculture jobs, Meseck said. Manufacturing provided 12.8 percent of the jobs in Grant County in 2014 and 14 percent in Adams County.
Local government was a major employer in Adams County, providing 18.8 percent of the county’s jobs. The figure was slightly lower in Grant County, where local government provided 17 percent of the jobs.
Retail trade accounted for 8.3 percent of the jobs in Grant County and 7.9 percent in Adams County. Health services provided 9.5 percent of the jobs in Adams County in 2014 and 7 percent of the jobs in Grant County.
Combined, those five job sectors accounted for about 72 percent of the jobs in Grant County and 77.5 percent of the jobs in Adams County.
But while agriculture accounted for more than one-quarter of the jobs in Grant County, it accounted for 18.9 percent of the wages in 2014. In Adams County, agricultural wages accounted for 23.6 percent of the wages.
Local government accounted for 19.4 percent of the wages in Adams County, and manufacturing for 18.6 percent of the wages. In Grant County, local government paid 19.4 percent of the wages and manufacturing accounted for 18.6 percent of wages.
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Port of Coulee City receives grant for new library, clinic upgrades
COULEE CITY — The Port of Coulee City has received a $200,000 Strategic Infrastructure Grant to start design work for a new standalone public library. Some of the money will be used for upgrades to the ambulance entrance at the Coulee City Medical Clinic, according to a port press release. The grant was awarded by the Grant County Commissioners. “The award enables the port to move forward with construction-ready plans for a new library building. The library is currently operating inside the medical clinic, which restricts clinical space and prevents the facility from functioning at full capacity,” the press release said. “Prior facility assignments have documented the need for a larger, purpose-built library to meet current and future community needs.”
Ephrata man arrested near Quincy
QUINCY — An Ephrata man was booked into the Grant County Jail Wednesday on suspicion of second-degree burglary and resisting arrest after being sought for alleged burglaries and other offenses committed in the Ephrata and Coulee Dam areas. Cody Miller, 34, was also booked for attempting to elude law enforcement and two Grant County District Court warrants, said Kyle Foreman, public information officer for the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, in a media release. “They’ve been looking for him for a bit,” Foreman said in a separate interview. Miller ran from Quincy Police Department officers Wednesday morning, Foreman said.
PUD seeking comment on 2027 rates
EPHRATA — The public comment period is open for Grant County Public Utility District customers who want to weigh in on proposed 2027 PUD rates. Comments can be made on the PUD website, www.grantpud.org, under the "workshops and meetings" tab. Utility district commissioners will hold a public hearing at 2 p.m. Nov. 10 for additional customer response. People can attend the hearing in person at the commission hearing room, 30 C St. SW, Ephrata. Access also will be available online. The proposed 2027 rates include increases for all customers. The smallest increase, 3.5%, will be paid by residential, small business, irrigation and general service customers. They're designated as "core customers."