Washington State Employment Security Department announcement.
Washington’s economy added 12,300 jobs in April.
“Employers are continuing to hire at an impressively strong pace,” said the Employment Security Department’s (ESD) Economist Paul Turek. “The current pace of job growth is surprising given how tight the labor market is.”
Also in April, the preliminary seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment rate was 4.1%.
The Monthly Employment Report also includes:
- Preliminary job estimates for April from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- The preliminary estimated 4.2% unemployment rate for March was revised to 4.1%.
- An adjustment to preliminary jobs data for March, with the estimated gain of 8,800 jobs revised upward to a gain of 9,000 jobs. The revised estimate represents a more accurate picture of developments in the job market for March by including additional information that was not available at the time of the previous month’s release.
ESD paid unemployment insurance (UI) benefits to 44,421 people in April, a decrease of 10,157 over the previous month. The decrease in paid UI benefits occurred primarily in the agriculture, construction, and health care & social assistance industry sectors.
National unemployment rate
The national unemployment rate remained constant in April at the preliminary rate of 3.6%. For comparison, the national unemployment rate (revised) for April 2021 was 6.0%.
Labor supply increases in April
The state’s labor force in April was 4,023,600 – an increase of 20,600 people from the previous month. Labor force is defined as the total number of people, both employed and unemployed, over the age of 16. In the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region, the labor force increased by 11,900 over the same period. From April 2021 to April 2022, the state’s labor force increased by 136,800 while the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region increased by 58,900.
From March to April, the number of people who were unemployed statewide decreased from 165,800 to 163,300. In the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region, the number of people who were unemployed decreased from 54,700 to 51,700 over the same period.
Of the industry sectors, in April:
- Nine expanded.
- Four contracted.
Private sector employment increased by 12,800 jobs while government employment decreased by 500 jobs. Table 2 shows a summary of the job gains and losses in all 13 industry sectors.
Annual payrolls expand for most industries
Washington gained an estimated 186,800 jobs from April 2021 – April 2022, not seasonally adjusted. Private sector employment rose by 6.6%, up an estimated 180,700 jobs, while public sector employment rose by 1.1%, up an estimated 6,100 jobs.
From April 2021 – April 2022, twelve major industry sectors expanded and one contracted
The three industry sectors with the largest employment gains year over year, not seasonally adjusted, were:
- Leisure and hospitality, up 57,600 jobs.
- Professional and business services, up 40,200 jobs.
- Education and health services, up 18,100 jobs.
Mining and logging was the one industry sector that contracted, losing 300 jobs from April 2021 – April 2022.
