Clark County’s employment picture showed little change in November with a jobless rate of 13.2 percent, up from a revised 12.7 percent in October and 8 percent in November 2008.

Washington’s unemployment rate also held fairly steady last month at 9.2 percent, with Oregon at 11.1 percent.

The U.S. unemployment rate is 9.4 percent.

Modest hiring in the county’s retail sector in advance of the holiday season added 300 new jobs last month, but that was 100 fewer than the usual trend, said Scott Bailey, labor analyst with the Washington Employment Security Department.

Through November, employment in the county was down by 5,900 jobs from a year earlier.

Bailey expects labor statistic comparisons with a year ago to start looking better, even though things haven’t really changed. That’s because losses were so dramatic at the end of 2008 and in early 2009, that with fewer job cuts now, the trend won’t look as bad.

Meanwhile, some industries around the state and locally appear to be bottoming out or are turning the corner, Bailey said. Manufacturing, transportation and utilities, information and professional services appear to be bottoming out while real estate and business services look like they’re turning around, he said.

Employment services, which in the past has been a leading indicator of employment recovery, appear to be adding jobs. Bailey called that an encouraging sign.

A continuing bright spot last month was the health care sector, which is still growing statewide and in Clark County.

Last month, local health care employers added 100 new jobs on top of the 600 created in the previous 11 months. Health care now employs an estimated 15,200 workers in the county.

Statewide trends

After accounting for seasonal fluctuations, officials said Washington shed about 4,800 non-farm jobs last month — the same number of jobs lost in October. The state has lost about 125,600 jobs since November 2008, according to an Associated Press report.

At the same time, fewer people are being counted as out of work. That figure can drop as unemployed people move out of the state, retire, or simply stop looking for work.

Goods-producing industries continued to suffer the bulk of job losses last month. Those employers account for about 15 percent of the state’s total employment, but their job losses represented about two-thirds of the monthly decline, the state said.

The biggest losses were seen in construction, which lost about 4,300 jobs in November. The leisure and hospitality sector was down about 2,000 jobs, and retail was lower by about 900 jobs.

Job gains were led by the professional and business services sector, which added about 2,800 jobs in November. That was seen as particularly positive because the sector includes temporary staffing, which is closely watched for early signs of life in the job market.

State officials estimate more than 321,000 people were unemployed and looking for work last month. The number of people drawing unemployment benefits in November was pegged at about 264,000. In Clark County that number is estimated at 28,900, up from 17,590 a year ago.

Print this article