PORT ANGELES — Unemployment dipped slightly on the North Olympic Peninsula and held steady across the state, but experts say it’s too early to tell if the region is on an economic rebound.
The jobless figure in Clallam County fell from 11 percent to 10.6 percent in April.
Jefferson County’s unemployment dipped from 9.4 percent to 8.6 percent last month, according to data released Tuesday by the state Employment Security Department.
“We’re still in a look-and-see attitude,” said Tess Camilon, who represents the Olympic Consortium of the Employment Security Department, which encompasses Clallam, Jefferson and Kitsap counties.
“We can’t say this is the start of something new. It’s too early to tell.”
Statewide, the seasonally adjusted jobless rate held steady at 9.1 percent.
“Most economists say it’s hard to stay optimistic,” Camilon said.
“We still have a ways to go.”
Both counties had increases in jobs last month, mostly in the service industry.
Clallam County experienced an uptick of 210 jobs last month, while Jefferson County added 120 jobs.
The unemployment numbers are derived from a survey of households and employers. Factors such as people moving from county to county can skew the statistics, Camilon said.
She said long-term jobless claims are a good way to gauge the overall health of a local economy.
“For us, we have a tendency to look more over the year, because it paints a better picture of what’s happening,” Camilon said.
Jobless claims
While unemployment claims dropped 6.2 percent in Clallam County last month, they were up 53 percent compared with April 2008.
There were 1,503 continued unemployment claims in Clallam County last month compared with 981 a year earlier.
While unemployment claims dropped 9.4 percent in Jefferson County last month, they were up 114 percent compared with April 2008.
There were 548 continued unemployment claims in Jefferson County last month, compared with 256 a year earlier.
“We still don’t know what’s going to happen,” Camilon said.
“I’d be interested in next month’s numbers because of the closure of the Hood Canal bridge” on May 1 for six weeks.
“I’d like to see how it’s impacted other sectors, particularly retail trade,” she said.
The state Employment Security Department will release its May report on June 16.
“The sector I’m really concerned about is both the construction and manufacturing,” Camilon said.
“For small areas, every number matters.”
State figures
Over the past year, construction jobs took the brunt of the losses in the state with a 35.4-percent decline in jobs.
“Construction is still being hard hit,” Camilon said.
Professional and business services (27.9 percent job loss), manufacturing (24.7 percent) and retail trade (15.7 percent) followed suit.
Only education and health services, with a 10.6 percent gain, and government jobs (plus 10.4 percent) saw job increases from April 2008 to April 2009.
The national unemployment rate rose from 8.5 percent to 8.9 percent last month.
Over the next month, Camilon and her colleagues will monitor indicators like the six-week closure of the Hood Canal Bridge and the pending closure of Gottschalks to get a read on how the local economy will emerge from the economic downturn.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
