State continues to regain jobs lost to pandemic, but at a slower rate
There is good news and bad news in the new Washington State Employment Security Department unemployment report for the month of July.
After losing nearly half a million jobs in April, the rebound for state employment continues, but at a slower rate than in May and June. In July, 44,500 jobs were added in the state of Washington, which continues an ongoing trend of job growth following the unprecedented drop in employment in April as residents were told to stay home to slow the spread of COVID-19.
According to Employment Security data, job growth since April has looked like this:
May: 90,500 jobs added
June: 140,600.
July: 44,500.
“Although payroll job growth continued in July, the pace at which the jobs were added slowed,” Paul Turek, an economist in the department, said in a statement. “Over the last three months, nearly half of the jobs lost during the pandemic have come back, but there remains a long way to go.”
Here’s some other takeaways from the most recent report:
Private sector jobs increased by 37,000, while government employment saw an increase of 7,000 jobs.
Comparing July 2019 to July 2020, the state lost an estimated 245,000 jobs. The sectors that saw the biggest losses were leisure and hospitality (103,300), government (32,400), and education and health services (24,400).
For more information on the latest numbers and where you can get more info on Washington state employment, log on to the Employment Security Dept. website.
This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
