Seattle Unemployment - July, 2008 August 12, 2008
Posted by hardly Strategic Concerns
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We continue to see unemployment increase in Washington State, 5.7%, up from 5.4% in June, and also in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area, 4.3%, up from 3.9% in June. Although, I'd argue that an ovearll unemployment rate of 4.3% is about where it ought to be, give or take a tenth of a percentage point or two.
The big news is that in addition to the unemployment rates going up from the previous month, the state also added 3,300 more jobs. Um, what? Basically, there are areas of the economy that are growing, and then there are those that aren't (brilliant, I know).
Digging into the data, what one sees in the Non-agricultural employment data is that 'Wholesale Trade', 'Retail Trade', 'Information' area continues to grow across the state, but other parts of the economy are in decline ('Construction', 'Financial Activities', 'Professional & Business Services', 'Admin & Support & Waste Management and Remediation').
From my end, I definitely continue to see challenges in finding Software Development talent of all kinds, so that's not changed one bit. What's new is that I'm now seeing more people from outside the Seattle-metro area seeking employment in Seattle. Makes a lot of sense since we're adding jobs!
Puget Sound Business Journal has July's report here.
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