OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington state’s unemployment rate fell for the fourth straight month, dropping to 8.9 percent in July.
State officials said Tuesday the jobless rate dropped one-tenths of a percentage point from June’s revised rate of 9 percent.
More than 306,000 people in Washington were unemployed and looking for work. And nearly 240,000 people received unemployment benefits from the state in July.
The state added about 3,100 jobs in July, but registered a net loss of 2,300 for the month because of the elimination of about 5,400 government jobs, most of which were federal census jobs.
Several industries added jobs in July, including transportation, retail trade, and mining and logging.
