Local unemployment hits 6-year high

Full impact of Boeing layoffs still to be felt

SCOTT WYLAND THE OLYMPIAN

THURSTON COUNTY -- South Sound's unemployment reached a six-year high in January, reflecting Washington state's slide into a deeper recession.

Thurston County's jobless rate rose to 6.4 percent, the highest since March 1996, when it reached 6.9 percent.

The state's jobless rate reached 8.2 percent in January.

The county is following the state and national economic slump, although its stable government job base is preventing a worse slide, according to one analyst.

"The country is in recession, and we can't escape that," said Gary Kamimura, regional labor economist for the state Employment Security Department. "There aren't very many counties that can escape it entirely."

The state Office of the Forecast Council estimates a budget shortfall that is at least $247 million higher than the $1.25 billion originally predicted.

If the state lays off workers to help balance the budget, the county would probably feel the bite, Kamimura said.

In January, Washington's jobless rate jumped nine-tenths of a point to 8.2 percent as Boeing's holiday season layoffs began showing up in the numbers.

"We really haven't seen the full brunt of aerospace cutbacks," Kamimura said. "The January numbers only reflect the front end of that."

In December, the aerospace giant eliminated 9,000 jobs and gave layoff notices to 1,287 workers in Puget Sound. At least 49 of the 380 Boeing workers who live in the Thurston County lost their jobs.

So far, about 5,000 of those job cuts have been counted, Employment Security Commissioner Sylvia P. Mundy said.

"In part because of aerospace layoffs, the state's rate remained relatively high as the national rate went down," Mundy said.

When adjusted for seasonal changes, the state's jobless rate was measured at 7.5 percent in January, compared to the 5.6 percent national rate. Seasonal changes would include temporary workers finishing holiday jobs and teachers returning to school after summer break.

The agency also added three-tenths of a point to the state's jobless rate for December in order to include information that wasn't available before. For instance, jobless claims that were filed late in the month might not have been counted.

With that adjustment, the state's unemployment rate was 7.4 percent.

Mason County, which depends more on manufacturing than Thurston County, is now flirting with a double-digit unemployment rate. The county's jobless rate in January leaped to 9.8 percent from 8.6 percent.

The key is to weather 2002, Kamimura said.

"We expect 2003 to be the point at which the state starts to recover," he said.

Scott Wyland covers business for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-357-0748 or swyland@olympia.gannett.com.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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