MOSES LAKE — The employment picture in Grant County improved between May 2022 and May 2023, although the number of people employed in nonfarm jobs didn’t change much. A report from the Washington Employment Security Department shows nonfarm unemployment dropping between April and May 2023 as well.

The county’s unemployment rate was 3.8% in May, down from 5.4% in May 2022. The unemployment rate dropped a full percentage point between April and May of this year; it was 4.8% in April.

Don Meseck, WESD regional labor economist, wrote that the number of people with jobs didn’t change much between May 2022 and May 2023, as some industries gained jobs and others lost them.

“Employment estimates for May 2023 in Grant County show that year-over-year job gains in construction, nondurable goods manufacturing and wholesale trade employment were nearly countered by job losses in information and financial activities, leisure and hospitality, and state and local government education,” Meseck wrote.

In terms of the number of people with jobs, nonfarm employment rose for 25 consecutive months, from April 2021 to April 2023, before registering an increase of 10 jobs between May 2022 and May 2023.

Nondurable goods manufacturing lost jobs in Grant County in 2019 and 2020, then started regaining jobs in 2021 and 2022. The construction sector was a steady provider of jobs in 2022, expanding year-over-year from February 2022 to January 2023. But jobs in construction were erratic between February and May 2023 when measured year over year, dropping in some months and growing in others.

“Rising interest rates are likely ‘putting the dampers’ on hiring in this local industry,” Meseck wrote.

Nondurable goods manufacturing includes food processing, and In Grant County that sector is doing pretty well. That sector grew by 220 jobs, measured year over year, between May 2022 and May 2023.

“Nondurable goods manufacturing employment in Grant County has increased, year over year, from July 2022 to May 2023,” Meseck wrote.

The leisure and hospitality sector lost jobs in May, measured year over year, and that industry also has experienced an erratic market in 2023. Year-over-year employment in that sector was down in Grant County in March, but up in April, Meseck wrote.

Agriculture continues to be an important employer in Grant County, but its role seems to be changing, Meseck wrote.

“A basic data trend analysis of local employment and wage trends makes it clear this industry has become relatively less influential in the local economy over the most recent 10-year period, 2012 through 2022,” he wrote.

The number of agriculture jobs peaked in 2014 and has been trending down since, he wrote, coming in at 9,121 jobs in 2022.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached via email at [email protected].