Pierce County’s jobless rate fell in September, and the county added more than 4,000 jobs, but local job creation still came up short compared with the year-ago period, the state Employment Security Department announced Tuesday.
For September, the county’s unemployment rate fell to 9.3 percent from 9.6 percent in August, likely lowered by the fact that 4,200 jobs were created in the August-to- September period. Most of those gains were spurred higher by public and private education and the start of the school year, regional economist Paul Turek said.
September wasn’t as good as it appears, he said.
That’s because Pierce County created 6,600 jobs in September 2010, meaning fewer jobs were created across all industry sectors last month.
“It basically means that we’re going through a sustained period of moderate job growth,” he said, adding that there is more competition for fewer jobs, which ultimately makes it tougher to find a job. Last month’s 9.3 percent jobless rate also was higher than the 9 percent jobless rate reported in September 2010, the data show.
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