Unemployment is continuing to fall in Washington and Oregon, according to state reports released this week.
The Evergreen State added 68,000 new jobs between December 2014 and December 2015, dropping the unemployment rate from 6.3 percent to 5.5 percent, the Employment Security Department said Thursday.
However, the rate rose between November and December from 5.3 percent.
In Oregon, the year-over-year unemployment rate fell from 6.7 percent in December 2014 to 5.4 percent last month. That continued a fall from 5.7 percent in November, the state Employment Department reported Wednesday.
National unemployment remained a flat 5 percent in the last two months of the year.
The largest gains among Washington’s 68,000 new jobs were in transportation, warehousing and utilities. That sector added 2,200 jobs in December.
Lost were 3,100 jobs spread among professional and business services, retail, and leisure and hospitality.
“It was another good month for Washington,” Paul Turek, Washington’s state labor economist, said in the monthly jobs report.
In Oregon
Oregon added 2,300 jobs in December, and a total of 54,600 jobs overall in 2015.
Manufacturing and government added the most jobs — 1,900 — in December, while health care and social services grew by 10,100 jobs throughout the year.
“Oregon’s economy finished the year strong, adding 17,100 jobs in the last three months of 2015,” Nick Beleiciks, Oregon’s state employment economist, said in the state’s report. “Job growth continues to be widespread, with most major sectors adding more jobs than they usually do this time of year.”
Brooks Johnson: 360-735-4547; brooks.johnson@columbian.com; twitter.com/readbrooks
