ADAMS COUNTY — The non-farm unemployment rate in Adams County in March looks much better than was expected for a month that saw the closing of businesses across the state. Non-farm unemployment rates for March 2020 were 5.6 percent. In March of 2019, the non-farm unemployment rate was 8.7 percent. While this appears to be good news, these numbers were collected in mid-March before the effects of COVID-19 could be felt, according to the Washington State Employment Security Department.

March 2020’s unemployment numbers were the best for the month of March that Adams County has ever seen since unemployment rates started being kept electronically in 1990. The unemployment rate in February 2020 was 7.2 percent. January 2020 had a 7.8 percent unemployment rate.

Also during March 2020, 40 new non-farm jobs were added compared to March 2019. However, from February 2020 to March 2020, the total number of Adams County jobs fell from 5,980 to 5,930. Manufacturing jobs were down from 1,110 jobs in March 2019 to 1,080 in March 2020, but there was an increase from February 2020 to March 2020 by 10 jobs.

Jobs where service is provided, such as trade, transportation, utilities, wholesale and retail trade and transportation, rose from 4,660 in March 2019 to 4,730 in March 2020, but down from February 2020 when there were 4,790 jobs.

The Civilian Labor Force (CFL) also fell between February and March 2020 from 8,492 to 8,470. Since April 2019, the CFL has continued to show growth over the 2018 numbers, increasing by 5.2 percent; however, in March 2020 there was a loss of 2.3 percent.

On Tuesday, May 26, the Washington state Economic Security Department released the April 2020 non-farm unemployment numbers. These numbers begin to show the effects caused by the COVID-19 closures.

As of April 2020, Adams County’s unemployment rate has gone back up to 8.5 percent, the highest the county has seen since March 2019 when unemployment was 8.7 percent. While the rise is not good news for Adams County, it had the second lowest unemployment rate in the state. Whitman County had a lower unemployment rate of 6.6 percent. Some counties in the state had much higher unemployment rates, such as Snohomish County which had a rate of 20.2 percent and Grays Harbor Grays Harbor with 19.4 percent. Most of the counties in the state had an unemployment rate of 10 to 18 percent.