MOSES LAKE — While the month-to-month figures go up and down, unemployment rates in Grant County in October were some of the lowest seen in more than 30 years, according to information from the Washington Department of Employment Security. 

The nonfarm unemployment rate for October was 4.2%, which is down from 5.1% in October 2022. The unemployment rate increased between September and October 2023, going from 3.6% to 4.2%.

“The unemployment rate this October is the lowest reading for the month of October in Grant County since county-level unemployment data began to be recorded electronically in 1990,” wrote Don Meseck, regional labor economist for the Employment Security Department. 

The unemployment rate increased year over year in July and September but dropped by the same amount it increased in August and October. County employment increased by 50 jobs between October 2022 and October 2023.

“Year over year, the local labor force had grown for 21 months, October 2021 through June 2023,” Meseck wrote. “But the labor force vacillated from July through October 2023. In October there were 626 fewer residents in the labor force than October 2022.”

The number of unemployed dropped dramatically, year over year, between the Octobers, from 2,499 in October 2022 to 2,009 in October 2023, he wrote. 

In addition, from June to October the labor force shrank below the number of workers recorded in the same months in 2019, the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“This indicates that, on a monthly basis, Grant County’s labor force has been struggling to grow back to pre-pandemic levels,” Meseck wrote.

The construction industry has lost jobs from July through October this year, and year over year between October 2022 and October 2023. That followed a state trend, Meseck wrote.

The state and local government education sector saw the largest job growth, year over year, increasing 8% between the Octobers. Employment in durable goods manufacturing grew slightly between the Octobers but remained steady from September to October 2023. 

Jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector expanded from April 2021 to June 2023, year over year, before slowing in August and September 2023. It rose again in October. 

Agriculture employment rose between 2012 and 2022, and accounted for about 21.7% of total covered employment in 2022. Agriculture’s share of total covered employment in the county decreased in those 10 years by six percentage points.