Adams County unemployment rate drops in December
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 1 month AGO
A truck leaves Othello’s McCain Foods facility in November 2021. A strong food processing sector helped drive down Adams County’s unemployment rate in 2021.
File Photo
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. | March 1, 2022 1:03 AM
OTHELLO — Recovery in Adams County’s food processing sector and expansion of its health services industry contributed to a substantial drop in the county’s unemployment rate between December 2020 and December 2021. The December 2021 unemployment rate of 5.5% was a substantial improvement from December 2019 too.
The unemployment rate in December 2020 was 7.1%, according to information from the Washington Employment Security Department. It was 7.5% in December 2019.
The unemployment rate did increase between November and December 2021. It was 4% in November last year.
Don Meseck, WESD regional labor economist, wrote that the number of people in the Adams County labor force declined slightly from December 2020 to December 2021.
“But this modest, year-over-year contraction in the labor force was more than countered by the dramatic decline in the number who were unemployed in December 2020 versus in December 2021,” Meseck wrote.
The county’s labor force is slightly smaller than it was in December 2019, Meseck wrote. But Adams County employment increased every month from April to December 2021. The number of jobs in the county was higher in December 2021 than December 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The current economic recovery in Adams County’s nonfarm (labor) market appears to be well underway,” Meseck wrote.
About 90% of manufacturing jobs in Adams County are in food processing, and employment in that sector shrank in 2020, but rebounded in 2021.
“Preliminary estimates indicate that, year over year, manufacturing employment in Adams County increased in each of the past eight months, May through December 2021,” Meseck wrote.
Employment increased from 1,090 jobs in December 2020 to 1,200 jobs in December 2021.
The private education and health services sector kept growing right through the pandemic, Meseck wrote. Most of that sector’s jobs in Adams County are in health care, he added.
The health services sector has been adding jobs for years, recording year-over-year job growth from October 2017 to December 2021. The health services sector grew by 40 jobs in 2019, 60 jobs in 2020 and 30 jobs in 2021.
“Clearly this is a growth industry in Adams County,” Meseck wrote.
Employment in the retail trade sector also increased between December 2020 and December 2021. In fact, employment increased in retail trade, when measured year over year, from August to December 2021.
The leisure and hospitality sector also added jobs, year over year, from December 2020 to December 2021. But jobs in the transportation, warehousing and utilities sector shrank, when measured from December to December. That sector lost 30 jobs from December 2020 to December 2021.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Road closures, roundabout, mean construction season underway
EPHRATA — The grass is starting to turn green, the trees are starting to leaf out, construction crews are starting to build roundabouts – hey, it’s spring. At least one roundabout project is in its final phase, held over from fall 2025. The intersection of State Route 282 and Nat Washington Way will be closed the week of April 6 to allow crews to install permanent lights. “This really is the final (closure),” wrote Grant County Administrator Tom Gaines in a media release. “The roundabout will close at 6 a.m. Monday, and we plan to reopen by Friday, possibly sooner if the work finishes early.”
Ybarra announces run for Washington Senate
QUINCY — State Representative Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, has announced his candidacy for the Washington Senate. If he’s elected, he would replace Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, who announced her retirement in March.
Othello Community Museum to open April 25
OTHELLO — With a couple of new exhibits, a new heating-cooling system, rearranged displays and a thorough cleaning, the Othello Community Museum will open for the summer April 25. The goal, said Molly Popchock, museum board secretary, is to operate for a full season.