State's jobless rate doesn't show how bad it is

As bleak as the state's unemployment numbers were in August — at 9.2 percent, the jobless rate was the highest in more than a quarter-century — they understate the actual level of dislocation among Washington's working people.

Based on newly available data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), roughly 6.3 percent of Washington's working-age population are out of work but not counted in the official unemployment statistics, or are working part time involuntarily.

By that standard, Washington ranks 14th in the nation in "underemployment." Oregon and California, each with an underemployment rate of 8.4 percent (alongside even higher unemployment rates than Washington's), are tied for first.

Taken together, the two different statistics indicate the recession is affecting far more Washingtonians than the 319,130 who last month met the formal definition of "unemployed" — out of work, available for work and actively looking for work.

The state-level underemployment figures from the BLS are calculated differently from the state Employment Security Department's monthly jobs report, so the two rates can't simply be added together.

Discouraged workers

Unlike the official unemployment rate, the underemployment rates count people who've become discouraged from looking for work and people who aren't actively looking for a job but would take one if offered.

The broadest measure of unemployment and underemployment in Washington — which is now being calculated quarterly by the BLS — rose from 11.9 percent in the first quarter of 2009 to 13.5 percent in the second quarter.

(The underemployment numbers are figured quarterly rather than monthly, and are based on a rolling average of the previous four quarters.)

The local layoff wave continued this week, as two more companies disclosed sizable dismissal plans to the Employment Security Department.

Seattle-based Adaptis, which processes health-insurance claims, said it was closing and letting all 138 employees go.

Big client lost

The layoff notice comes less than two weeks after Clear Choice Health Plans, a Bend, Ore.-based insurer and major Adaptis client, said it was ending its relationship with the outsourcing company.

In its notice, Adaptis said the layoffs started Sept. 4 but most would take place between November and May, as the 13-year-old company winds down operations.

Tuesday, Mountain View, Calif.-based SumTotal Systems told the state it would cut 59 employees from its Bellevue office.

The layoffs have begun, the learning-software company said, with most set to occur in November and December.

SumTotal Systems was formed in 2004 by the merger of Bellevue-based Click2learn and California-based Docent.

Sector by sector

Finance, insurance and real estate, a sector that includes companies like Adaptis, lost a seasonally adjusted 800 jobs in August and has shed 8,000 jobs over the past 12 months.

Software publishing, a category that includes SumTotal, had been one of the local economy's bright spots until earlier this year. It too lost 800 jobs in August.

The battered construction sector actually added 200 jobs last month, as gains in nonresidential construction and home building offset a 1,400-job drop among residential specialty contractors such as roofers or electricians.

Aerospace manufacturing lost 1,300 jobs, reflecting layoffs both at Boeing and other local aerospace companies.

The retail sector shed 2,400 jobs, mainly among clothiers, auto dealers and home-and-garden-supply stores.

In all, the state lost 8,000 more jobs in August, according to Tuesday's report. That brings the total loss since the Great Recession hit Washington to 128,800 jobs, or 4.3 percent of the pre-recession payroll.

As if that weren't enough, as of August about 2,700 Washingtonians had exhausted their unemployment benefits, Employment Security Department spokeswoman Sheryl Hutchison said.

By the end of the year, the department estimates, 19,800 people will have seen their benefits run out.

The unemployment figures are derived from monthly surveys — not, as sometimes thought, by counting how many people are receiving unemployment benefits.

The gloomy jobs numbers would seem at odds with recent pronouncements, such as those Tuesday by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, that the national recession is either over or close to it.

But employment typically lags a recovery in the broader economy, as employers try to get more out of their current workers before hiring new ones.

And the performance of individual states and metropolitan areas can vary considerably from the national average.

Last month, IHS Global Insight forecast that the Seattle-Tacoma area won't regain all the jobs lost in the recession until sometime in 2012.

Drew DeSilver: 206-464-3145 or ddesilver@seattletimes.com