OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington’s jobless rate has reversed course and is now trending back upward, reaching 9.3 percent in July.
The Employment Security Department revised several months worth of numbers on Wednesday, showing that the jobless rate fell to 8.8 percent in March before steadily climbing back up.
Washington’s unemployment rate had been falling through much of 2010 after hitting a peak of 10 percent at the beginning of last year.
The report shows mixed signals on the state’s employment situation because it found that the number of jobs has grown for 11 consecutive months, including 5,700 new jobs in July. Officials believe the state would have to add roughly 6,000 jobs a month for a year to reduce the unemployment rate by 1 percentage point.
