State unemployment rate dips in September despite job losses

Washington’s economy lost an estimated 35,900 jobs (seasonally adjusted) in October even as the monthly unemployment rate decreased slightly to 4.7%.

“October shows an unusually high drop in jobs, unlike the relatively small changes over the past several months,” said Anneliese Vance-Sherman, chief labor economist for the Employment Security Department. “This is largely a reflection of the now-resolved strike by Boeing machinists.”

Aerospace employment dropped by 31,000 in October. Despite these changes, the unemployment rate  dipped only slightly.

The manufacturing, leisure and hospitality, and other services industries experienced the largest job losses from September to October. Government, education and health services, and information led statewide employment growth during that same time.

The unemployment rate has hovered between 4.7% to 4.9% since March 2024. For comparison, the unemployment rate stood at 3.8% in October 2023.

Employment Security paid unemployment benefits to 57,057 people in October, an increase of 3,143 over the previous month. Increases in paid claims in these industries helped contribute to the increase:

• Manufacturing.
• Construction.

Visit Employment Security’s website to view the entire Monthly Employment Report for October 2024.

Updated state preliminary data for September 2024

• The preliminary estimated loss of 2,000 jobs was revised to a loss of 2,800.
• The seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment rate remained at 4.8%.

National unemployment rate

The national unemployment rate remained at 4.1% from September to October. For comparison, the national unemployment rate (revised) for October 2023 was 3.8%.

Labor force showed little change

From September to October 2024, the number of people who were unemployed statewide decreased slightly from 190,150 to 187,951. In the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region, the number of people who were unemployed decreased from 77,689 to 77,171 over the same period.

The state’s labor force in October stood at 3,995,931 – a decrease of 6,924 people from the previous month. In the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region, the labor force increased by 7,129 people during the same period.

Labor force is defined as the total number of people, both employed and unemployed, over the age of 16. Layoffs and labor force participation are not necessarily connected. When people are laid off but still seeking work, they remain a part of the labor force. A drop in the labor force means people have left work and haven’t been actively seeking employment for more than four weeks.

Four major industry sectors expanded, seven contracted from September to October

Private sector employment decreased by 38,300 jobs from September to October. Government employment increased by 2,400 during that same time.

The largest sector-level gains in private industry were in education and health services (up 1,800 jobs), information (up 500) and business services (up 300 jobs).

• The highest one-month gains in education and health services were in ambulatory health care services (up 2,600 jobs) and private educational services (up 1,300 jobs).
• The deepest one-month sector losses were in manufacturing (down 31,000). This reflects the machinists strike at the Boeing Company.

Seven sectors saw decreases in employment: manufacturing (down 31,000); leisure and hospitality (down 5,400); other services (down 1,500); transportation, warehousing and utilities (down 1,200); construction (down 800); wholesale trade (down 600); and retail trade (down 400).

Annual employment growth appears in public industries, falls in private industries

Washington gained an estimated 9,100 jobs from October 2023 to October 2024 (not seasonally adjusted). During that time, private sector employment fell by 0.51%, decreasing by 15,200 jobs. Public sector employment grew 4.1%, increasing by an estimated 24,300 jobs.

The two industry sectors with the largest employment gains year over year (not seasonally adjusted) were:

• Education and health services, up 21,200 jobs.
• Transportation, warehousing and utilities, up 3,000 jobs.

The manufacturing sector reported the biggest employment loss year over year (not seasonally adjusted). It contracted by 29,100. Within the sector, aerospace was down an estimated 26,300 jobs.

Table 1: Washington’s total jobs

Month	Total jobs (losses or gains)	Unemployment rate	Previous year’s unemployment rate
October 2024	-35,900	4.7%	3.8%
September 2024	-2,800*	4.8%*	3.6%
August 2024	+2,100*	4.8%*	3.6%
July 2024	-3,100*	4.9%*	3.6%
June 2024	+8,700*	4.8%*	3.8%
May 2024	+16,300*	4.9%*	4.1%
April 2024	+6,800*	4.8%*	4.3%
March 2024	+8,400*	4.8%*	4.5%
February 2024	+3,900*	4.7%*	4.6%
January 2024	-2,700*	4.6%*	4.6%
December 2023	+18,500*	4.2%*	4.5%
November 2023	+4,800*	4.0%*	4.6%
October 2023	-6,900*	3.8%*	4.6%
September 2023	+300 *	3.6%*	4.4%
August 2023	+2,500*	3.6%*	4.3%
July 2023	-6,300*	3.6%*	4.1%
June 2023	+17,300*	3.8%*	3.9%
May 2023	+3,800*	4.1%*	3.9%
April 2023	+7,700*	4.3%*	3.9%
March 2023	+1,000*	4.5%*	3.9%
February 2023	+7,600*	4.6%*	4.0%
January 2023	+4,200*	4.6%*	4.0%
December 2022	+10,400*	4.5%*	4.1%
November 2022	-700*	4.6%*	4.3%
October 2022	-1,500*	4.6%*	4.5%

*Revised from previous preliminary estimates. Preliminary monthly estimates for job losses or gains are based on a small Bureau of Labor Statistics payroll survey. Actual figures reported the following month are based on a more complete survey.        

Table 2: October job gains and losses by industry

Industry sector	Job gains, losses
Government	2,400
Education and health services	1,800
Information	500
Professional and business services	300
Mining and logging	0
Financial activities	0
Retail trade	-400
Wholesale trade	-600
Construction	-800
Transportation, warehousing and utilities	-1,200
Other services	-1,500
Leisure and hospitality	-5,400
Manufacturing	-31,000

Labor market information

See more labor market information and tools, including interactive Tableau graphics, to highlight popular information and data.