Adams County jobless rate dips in September
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years AGO
Source: Employment Security Department/LMPA
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. | November 17, 2016 2:00 AM
RITZVILLE — Unemployment in Adams County dropped by three-tenths of one percent between August and September, and it dropped one-tenth of one percent between September 2015 and September 2016.
The unemployment rate was 4.5 percent in September, down from 4.8 percent in August. Unemployment was 4.6 percent in September 2015.
But while the unemployment rate shrank, so did the number of nonfarm jobs in Adams County, said Don Meseck, regional labor economist for the Washington Employment Security Department. Meseck said Adams County lost 60 nonfarm jobs between September 2015 and September 2016.
Year over year, nonfarm employment in Adams County “has decreased or stagnated for the past 15 months, July 2015 through September 2016,” Meseck wrote. Adams County generated 5,700 nonfarm jobs in September 2016.
The labor force in Adams County grew between September 2015 and 2016, Meseck wrote. “The number of unemployed residents edged upwards during this time frame, but the labor force expansion was stronger. Hence the unemployment rate edged downwards a tick. This (labor force) expansion was largely due to job growth in Adams County’s agricultural sector since total nonfarm employment netted fewer jobs in September 2016 than in September 2015.”
The “mining, logging and construction” sector, which in Adams County is mostly construction, added 10 jobs between September 2015 and 2016, and the manufacturing sector lost 10 jobs year to year. The education and health services sector lost 10 jobs between August and September, but was unchanged when measured against last September.
The leisure and hospitality sector lost 10 jobs between August and September, and lost 10 jobs when compared with September 2015.
Wholesale trade dropped 30 jobs when measured September to September, “Year over year, wholesale trade employment county-wide has declined in the past 24 months, October 2014 through August 2016,” Meseck wrote.
“Transportation, warehousing and utilities employment in Adams County has decreased, year over year, for the past eight months.” That sector lost 20 jobs between September 2015 and September 2016.
“Government (federal, state and local combined) was the main generator of new jobs in Adams County last year, netting 50 more jobs in 2015 than in 2014, 1,650 versus 1,600 respectively,” Meseck wrote. But the government sector has contracted the last two months, dropping 20 jobs between August and September 2016.
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