In South Seattle, young men are escaping unemployment and learning to operate precision machines that produce parts for everything from airplanes to torpedoes to racing boats.

One of them is 26-year-old David "Spencer" Fish. The Auburn resident recently entered a four-year apprenticeship program that will allow him and 16 others to work at Seattle-based Machinists Inc. while taking technical classes.

"After a decade of treading water, I'm really happy to find a career," Fish said.

Statewide, aerospace manufacturing added 1,100 jobs last month, Washington officials reported Wednesday. That contributed to the state's strong overall job growth in July, its 11th consecutive month of gains, with 5,700 jobs created on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Most sectors expanded their hiring over the previous month: Leisure and hospitality added 1,700 jobs, followed by manufacturing (1,600), retail trade (1,200), transportation and warehousing (1,200), professional and business services (1,100), financial activities (1,000), construction (800) and government (500).

Over the past year, the state economy added about 37,200 jobs, officials said.

But the unemployment rate for July remained high at 9.3 percent. June's jobless rate was revised upward to 9.3 percent from the original 9.2 percent.

The jobless rate in the Seattle area was 8.9 percent, up from 8.8 percent in June. The U.S. unemployment rate was 9.1 percent in July, down from 9.2 percent.

The state's simultaneous job growth and stubbornly high unemployment rate is hard to interpret, said Dave Wallace, acting chief economist for the Employment Security Department.

More workers are holding more than one job, while many others don't have the skills or experience for newly created jobs, he said.

In King County, there are more than 90,000 unemployed workers and some 19,000 jobs going unfilled, according to the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County.

Vacancies are plentiful in retail and restaurants. But there's also great demand for software developers, nurses and other high-wage jobs, according to the council.

On Wednesday, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., toured Machinists Inc.'s plant across the Duwamish Waterway from Boeing Field.

Murray has introduced legislation to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act, which supports partnerships between job-training programs and employers like Machinists Inc.

Fish and the other apprentices will learn on the job and take courses toward certification as master machinists.

The 17 were admitted through a state program known as AJAC, which stands for Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee.

Since graduating from high school in 2002, Fish has been a rockwall-climbing instructor and waiter.

He briefly worked at furniture-parts maker Titus Tool before the Kent plant laid off 58 workers starting in late 2008 and shifted production to Mexico.

Asked what could be done to stem the flow of manufacturing jobs offshore, Murray said business owners could answer that better.

Machinists Inc., which employs about 150, has no plans to outsource jobs, said President Hugh LaBossier.

The precision-machining firm, founded in 1941 by LaBossier's grandfather, has become one of the largest players in the Pacific Northwest, handling jobs for Boeing, lift-maker Genie Industries and the military, among others.

LaBossier said Machinists Inc. avoids competing against firms churning out commodity goods.

"We can't compete against the rest of the world unless we're producing something of benefit to mankind," LaBossier said.

"We need to go back to being a country that can actually produce products," he said.

Sanjay Bhatt: 206-464-3103 or sbhatt@seattletimes.com