Spokane County's unemployment rate ticked up a notch in July, to 9 percent. The jobless rate in June was 8.9 percent, and in July 2010 it was 9.1 percent.

There were 20,250 unemployed workers in the county last month, according to the Washington Employment Security Department. That's down slightly from 20,840 unemployed workers in June.

The jobless rate last month hit 11 percent in Stevens County, 11.6 percent in Pend Oreille County, and nearly 13 percent in Ferry County.

Elsewhere in the region, the July rate was 7.5 percent in Whitman County, 7.6 percent in Adams County and 7.9 percent in Lincoln County.

---

---