Adams County unemployment rate remains steady
Adams County Employment
RITZVILLE — The unemployment rate in Adams County dropped one-tenth of a percentage point between May and June, but remained the same as June 2015. But the number of non-farm jobs available in the county shrank between June 2015 and June 2016.
Unemployment was 5.4 percent in June 2016, the same as June 2015. The unemployment rate in May was 5.5 percent.
“Year over year, nonfarm employment in Adams County has decreased for the past 12 months, from July 2015 to June 2016,” wrote Don Meseck, regional labor economist for the Washington Employment Security Department. “In June 2016 there were 240 fewer nonfarm jobs in Adams County (5,720 jobs) than in June 2015 (5,960 jobs), a 4 percent downturn – certainly discouraging news for the local economy.”
The county’s civilian labor force grew by 342 people between June 2015 and June 2016, Meseck said. “However, between the Junes of 2015 and 2016, the number of unemployed residents also increased, from 490 (unemployed) to 512. In effect the civilian labor force grew at roughly the same pace as the number of unemployed,” Meseck wrote.
“It is likely this labor force expansion was due to job growth in the agricultural sector.”
All sectors of the nonfarm economy either didn’t change or shrank between June 2015 and June 2016, Meseck said.
The “mining, logging and construction” sector, which in Adams County is mostly construction, remained steady between June 2015 and June 2016, and was unchanged from May 2016. All other sectors lost jobs between June 2015 and June 2016, although many were unchanged from May.
Manufacturing employment “has stagnated or contracted for the past 13 months, June 2015 through June 2016,” Meseck wrote. In that period the county lost 10 jobs. “Most manufacturing jobs in Adams County are food processing related.”
Retail trade jobs have “either stagnated or declined for the past seven months,” Meseck wrote. The sector did gain 10 jobs between May and June 2016. But that’s still a 10-job loss between June 2015 and June 2016.
Education and health services, which in Adams County are mostly private-sector health service providers, lost 100 jobs between June 2015 and June 2016, a 12.7 percent loss. “Government shrank by 80 jobs, from 1,730 to 1,650 between the Junes of 2015 and 2016, a 4.6 percent downturn,” Meseck wrote. The government sector, which in Adams County includes school districts, police and fire agencies, has lost jobs from October 2015, he said.
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