Regional News

Washington jobs report delivers promising start to new year

Mar 07, 2018

Washington’s economy added 6,800 jobs in January and the state’s seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment rate came in at 4.7 percent, according to the Employment Security Department.

"Signs point to a strong labor market even as annual data revisions provided a dose of restraint,” said Paul Turek for the department. “Unemployment remains extremely low and wage growth looks to be accelerating.”

The Employment Security Department released the preliminary job estimates from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics as part of its January Monthly Employment Report.The department also announced that December’s previously announced unemployment rate of 4.5 percent was revised upward to 4.7 percent. Similarly, December job gains were revised upward from 6,100 to 8,500 jobs.

The national unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in January. In January last year, the national unemployment rate was 4.8 percent.

Employment Security paid unemployment insurance benefits to 70,908 people in January.