Washington Unemployment Now At Lowest Level Since 1976

OLYMPIA, WA - Washington's unemployment rate in November hit the lowest point since the government started tracking the figure in 1976. An estimated 4.3 percent of Washingtonians were unemployed last month, down from 4.7 percent in November 2017.

The employment picture was even better in the Seattle area, where unemployment was just 3.3 percent in November. That's still above the April 1998 record of 2.9 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But those figure don't necessarily tell the whole story.

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates an alternative unemployment rated called U-6. That figure includes the unemployed and the under-employed. The Q3 U-6 rate was 8.4 percent in Washington, which is the lowest rate going back to 2009.

A number of industries in the state lost jobs in November. Those include: Information (-100); mining and logging (-100); financial activities (-400); construction (1,100); retail (-1,200); and

government (-1,300).

And despite low unemployment, poverty and homelessness are huge problems in Washington. A report out this week from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said that more than 22,000 people are homeless in Washington, the fifth highest in the U.S.

Washington also had the fourth-highest increase in homeless people between 2017 and 2018, according to the report. Washington had the second-highest increase in homeless individuals between 2007 and 2018, behind only New York state. And Seattle and King County had the third-highest number of homeless people in the U.S. behind only New York City and Los Angeles.

Read the state's November jobs report here: https://esd.wa.gov/labormarket...

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