Twin Harbors jobless rates down a tick, still high

Grays Harbor and Pacific counties have among the highest unemployment rates in the state, according to statistics released Tuesday by the state Employment Security Department.

Grays Harbor County, as the numbers for the month of February show, has the sixth-highest unemployment rate at 10.8 percent, tying with Franklin County. Pacific County showed a slightly higher rate at 11 percent.

Unemployment statewide in February 2015 was 6.8 percent.

The numbers show a trend in decreasing unemployment for Grays Harbor and Pacific counties, as well as the state. Grays Harbor County’s percentage is down from 11.1 percent in January. And in February 2014 its unemployment rate was 11.9 percent. Pacific County saw 11.3 percent unemployment in January, and 12.1 percent in February 2014.

Numbers from the department show that, while 30 workers in Grays Harbor County found jobs between January and February, the county’s labor force also lost 50 workers, which also contributed to the decrease in unemployment rate. Pacific County lost 70 workers from its labor force between January and February, which included 40 employed and 30 unemployed.

The labor force of a particular area, said Janelle Guthrie, Employment Security Department spokeswoman, refers to anyone in the workforce, employed and unemployed, age 16 and older.

Jim Vleming, a regional labor economist whose oversight includes Grays Harbor and Pacific counties, said the numbers aren’t too surprising.

“I think these are pretty much what we’d expect this time of year,” he said. “We’ve seen a lot of the retail trade kind of go away this time in January and February, so that’s not a surprise that we’d lose jobs.”

Still, Vleming added that Grays Harbor County in particular continues to see job growth, adding non-farm employment is up 610 jobs in the last year. Increases have also occurred in the service, retail, professional and business services and state and local government employment.

“So we’re seeing some pockets of pretty nice increases of over-the-year employment,” Vleming said. “So that’s a positive sign.”

Ferry County had the highest unemployment rate for the month of February at 14 percent. At 5 percent, the metropolitan division of Seattle, Bellevue and Everett had the lowest.