State's jobs picture is 'pretty much treading water'

A surge of hiring for the 2010 census helped brighten Washington's jobs picture last month, but the private-sector recovery still resembled a child with measles: spotty and weak.

The state Employment Security Department, in its monthly employment report, said Tuesday that Washington payrolls grew by 8,600 jobs in May. That marked the third straight month, and the fourth of the past five, of expanding payrolls.

But private employers accounted for just a net 200 new jobs, with about as many sectors cutting workers as adding them.

By far the biggest contributor was the federal government, which hired 9,000 temporary census workers here in May — among 411,000 hired nationwide.

Many if not most of those temp workers will start dropping off the federal payroll over the next few months, said David Wallace, the department's acting chief labor economist.

"To me, it's still a mixed or a neutral job picture," Wallace said Tuesday in a teleconference. "We're on the positive side of the ledger, but we'd like it to be better than that. Adding 200 (private-sector) jobs, you're pretty much treading water."

The statewide unemployment rate, adjusted for seasonal variations in the labor market, fell to 9.1 percent, from an upwardly revised 9.3 percent in April. That compared with a national unemployment rate of 9.7 percent for May.

In the Seattle metro area, unemployment edged down a tenth of a percentage point, to 8.4 percent.

All told, more than 310,000 Washingtonians were unemployed and looking for work last month, about 4,500 fewer than in May 2009. More than 265,000 Washingtonians received state jobless benefits last month.

(The unemployment rate is derived from a survey of individuals — not, as is sometimes thought, by counting how many people are receiving benefits. The payroll-jobs numbers are derived from a separate survey of employers.)

Research from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that an expanded definition of joblessness — one that includes discouraged and other "marginally attached" workers, as well as people working part time who'd rather be full time — would add an additional 7 percentage points or so to the official unemployment rate.

The state jobs numbers in May tracked the national situation. Last month, the nation gained 431,000 payroll jobs, but only 41,000 of them came in the private sector.

Since the beginning of 2010, Washington's private-sector employers — who account for more than 80 percent of all payroll jobs in the state — have added fewer than 14,900 jobs.

The jobs picture across industries was mixed. Construction, the hardest-hit sector during the recession, added 800 jobs last month, on top of a 900-job gain in April. Retail payrolls grew by 600 jobs in May, and professional and business services added 800 jobs.

But those gains were largely offset by losses in financial services (down 1,100 jobs), accommodation and food services (600 jobs), aerospace manufacturing (500 jobs) and transportation and warehousing (400 jobs).

There was wide variation in joblessness across the state. Clark and Ferry counties had the highest jobless rates, each at 13 percent, while San Juan and Whitman counties had the lowest rates, at 6 percent each. (County rates aren't seasonally adjusted.)

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