The state’s unemployment rate held steady at 8.3 percent in March, the same rate as the previous month. But employers added 3,300 jobs  — marking positive job growth for 18 out of the last 19 months.

March’s unemployment rate matches February’s revised rate of 8.3 percent, according to the Employment Security Department. Most of the jobs added in March were in the government sector, specifically K-12 schools and higher education.

The state’s job picture is rapidly improving, Employment Security Commissioner Paul Trause said at a meeting Wednesday morning. Trause said the state has lost 200,000 jobs from “peak to trough” of the recession, starting in March 2008.

Since then, Washington has added back 91,000 jobs.

“We appear to be recovering at an accelerating pace from the recession,” Trause said at the Government Management Accountability and Performance meeting (video).

Kitsap Co. has suffered the biggest number of job losses from the recession, Trause said. The southwest and northeast corners of the state have also been hit hard with some of the highest unemployment figures in Washington, he said.

(more…)

More people are finding work and the state’s unemployment rate is slowly dropping, but those who remain unemployed will be facing a reduction of benefits — losing about six months in unemployment checks starting April 21st.

That’s because the state’s average unemployment rate over the last three months — which dropped to 8.2 percent in February — triggered a couple of formulas that the federal government uses to pay out long-term benefits.

People who lose their jobs can claim regular unemployment benefits for up to 26 weeks, paid for by the state. After that, a federal program that provides “emergency benefits” for 53 weeks kicks in.

A second federal program providing “extended benefits” continues paying out unemployment checks for another 20 weeks after a worker’s emergency benefits run out.

Because of the state’s reduced average unemployment rate, it will lose the extended benefits program altogether, and emergency benefits will be reduced by six weeks – shrinking the amount of long-term unemployment benefits a person can claim by 26 weeks.

Employment Security Commissioner Paul Trause said in a statement that while the state’s unemployment rate has improved, it is still high. “Losing up to six months of benefits will make the unemployment situation a lot more urgent for thousands of families,” he said.

Unemployed workers can go to go2worksource.com for more info and employment assistance.

Tags: unemployment

February’s labor statistics came out today and things improving: The state’s unemployment rate dropped to 8.2 percent in February, down from 8.4 percent in January.  It’s the lowest unemployment rate since January 2009, when it was 7.7 percent.

The state added about 4,200 jobs last month. The biggest uptick was in the leisure and hospitality sector, which added 2,500 jobs. That was followed by the construction, retail and transportation sectors.

Still, about 288,000 people were unemployed and looking for work in February. And about 197,000 claimed unemployment benefits, according to the Employment Security Department.

Tags: unemployment

January’s labor statistics came out today and the news is good: The unemployment rate has dropped to 8.3 percent, down from 8.6 percent in December. That represents a gain of 13,200 jobs.

The bad news: About 291,400 people in the state are receiving unemployment benefits. And as of the end of last week, 74,616 people have run out of unemployment benefits. 

Gov. Chris Gregoire sent out a statement after the announcement, saying the economy is showing “real and consistent signs of recovery.” She also said that as the economy improves and employers look to hire, she hopes they consider out-of-work Washingtonians for job openings.

“From the low point of the recession the state has regained about 98,000 jobs. These numbers are coupled with our decreasing unemployment rate, down significantly from a high of 10.2 percent in early 2010. That is good news and indicates we are in recovery, but we’ve still got to get thousands of Washingtonians back to work,” she said.

Tags: unemployment

The 2012 Legislative session kicked off on Monday, and we covered lots of ground here on the blog and on Legislative Review, our 10-minute wrap-up of the day’s events that airs nightly at 6:30 p.m. on TVW. Here’s a quick look back at what happened this week.

Monday: Opening ceremonies got underway with speeches from Reps. Frank Chopp and Richard DeBolt. TVW aired a two-hour opening day special of “The Impact” with interviews from the Governor and dozens of lawmakers, who touched on everything from the budget to gay marriage and medical marijuana.

Watch Monday’s Legislative Review here.

Tuesday:  Gov. Chris Gregoire gave her final state of the state address, calling for a $3.6 billion transportation package that would include a $1.50 fee per barrel on oil produced in Washington. Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, delivered the Republican response. That was followed by a news conference where several Republicans said they were concerned that the Governor’s proposed oil fee would cause prices to rise at the gas pump.

Watch Tuesday’s Legislative Review here.

Wednesday: After three years of delivering gloomy economic forecasts, the state’s chief economist Arun Raha announced he was resigning to take a new job in Cleveland — but not without cracking a few of his signature “Arun-ism” jokes first. We kept an eye on two environmental bills — one would ban plastic grocery bags in Washington state, and the other would ban petroleum-based plastic bottles. And, the Senate took a look at a proposal that would consolidate the healthcare benefits of K-12 public school employees under one insurance plan.

Watch Wednesday’s Legislative Review here.

Thursday: A bipartisan group of lawmakers held a press conference to announce their plans for education reform, including a bill that would authorize charter schools in Washington state. Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, D-Burien, held a press conference to promote his version of a bill that would ban plastic bags. The employment department and chief economist Arun Raha gave an update on how the state’s economy is doing.

Watch Thursday’s Leglative Review here.

Friday: The Sandusky scandal prompted the Senate to hear a bill that would hold certain higher education employees responsible for reporting suspected child abuse. Also, the Senate honored Sen. Scott White, who died in October of a heart attack. Friday’s edition of Legislative Review airs at 6:30 p.m. on TVW.

Tags: Arun Raha, Environment, gay marriage, Gov. Gregoire, Legislative Review, Schools

In just a few minutes TVW will be on air with legislators with discussions spanning the topics of the budget, jobs, and higher education.

So far, we’ve spoken with Senators Ed Murray and Mark Schoesler about the budget and Senator Derek Kilmer about job creation.

In our discussion about higher education with Representative Larry Haler, he said “we have reached the breaking point,” regarding cuts to higher education. He said he is in talks with higher education officials and has called for a “zero percent increase” in tuition, or as close to that as is feasible, he added.

All of the interviews today will be on air at 7 p.m. as well.

Tags: Derek Kilmer, Ed Murray, Higher Education, job creation, Jobs, Larry Haler

On the heels of this morning’s not-awful revenue forecast, the state also heard the latest jobs report. The good news: The state added 4,600 jobs in October and the unemployment rate is now the lowest it’s been since March 2009.

The bad news: The rate is 9 percent. And 314,698 people are still unemployed and looking for work in the state. Of those, about 176,000 were receiving unemployment benefits and nearly 65,000 unemployed workers have gone without a job for so long that they’ve simply run out of benefits.

According to the Employment Security Department, the industries with the biggest job gains were government, wholesale trade, education and health services, and manufacturing, which includes aerospace. But jobs were lost in professional and business services, transportation, warehousing and utilities, retail trade.

To view the full report, go here.

Tags: Jobs, unemployment

The Employment Security Department released survey results today that they hope debunks the myth that unemployes workers don’t look for jobs until their benefits are about to run out. ESD sent the survey out to anyone who had run out of unemployment benefits since Nov. 2009, and more than 5,000 people responded. The result: Three of four survey respondents who ran out of benefits are still out of work.

“The survey contradicts the perception that unemployed workers wait until their benefits run out, then quickly find work,” said ESD Commissioner Paul Trause. He added that there simply aren’t enough jobs.

The survey was sent to more than 30,000 “exhaustees” — those unemployed workers who have exhausted their benefits, which can last up to 99 weeks. Of those who responded and had found jobs, 80 percent were making less than they had before being laid off. The average pay cut was 29 percent. Survey respondents also said they feel age is a barrier to employment.

You can read the full report here.

Tags: Employment Security, ESD, unemployment