Spokane County jobless rate increases, due in part to college grads
Spokane County's unemployment rate for May grew to 9.1 percent, up from 8.7 percent in April, the state reported on Tuesday.
The sad news: the May jobless rate this year is exactly the same as one year earlier, 9.1 percent.
Statewide, Washington's jobless rate ticked up to 8.3 percent in May, compared to 8.2 percent in April.
Some good news: Spokane's jobs grew by 2,900 from April 2012-May 2012, the state Employment Security Department reported. That's the nonadjusted number for Spokane. If one were to use the seasonally adjusted employment number, Spokane gained only 1,600 jobs.
To look at the numbers directly, go here.
Sectors seeing upticks: construction, manufacturing and professional-scientific-technical.
Doug Tweedy, the Spokane area labor economist, said the job growth number is based on employer surveys. The jobless number is based on completely different surveys collected from Spokane area households.
Between the two, Tweedy said the employment numbers (which exclude farm jobs and sole proprietorships) is a more accurate number for the Spokane area job market.
The jobless increase reflects the influx of recent college grads getting into the job growth, Tweedy said.
