Washington’s economy gained 96-hundred jobs in May, while the state’s unemployment rate held steady at 4.7 percent.
The Employment Security Department says while the number of jobs the state’s employers generated in May is not as significant as the two previous months, the month’s increase in employment is solid, and beats numbers from the same time a year ago.
Washington’s labor force expanded for fifth consecutive month, totaling more than 3.87 million people.
Ten industry sectors expanded, led by construction; professional and business services; and education and health services. Also posting job gains were leisure and hospitality; other services; retail trade; wholesale trade; manufacturing; and transportation, warehousing, and utilities.
The information, and mining and logging sectors were unchanged, while financial activities was the on;y sector to post job losses.
Year-over-year, Washington added an estimated 82,300 new jobs from May 2018 through May 2019. (ESD)
